i swear these things must be dusted with coke....

okay, not really, but somehow, i've managed to hoover down the better part of a bag of harvest cheddar sunchips during my ten hour p.m. stretch at the radio station today. i thought putting the bag in my car would help, in seeing as how i'm feeling pretty lazy, but i underestimated the pull of fake cheese powder. i'm like a large, wingless, blondish moth to a flame....okay, maybe not exactly a flame, but there's a picture of the sun on the bag, which probably counts for something.

when my hand hasn't been in the chip bag (as it obviously isn't right now, given that i've not yet mastered the art of typing quickly/accurately with my hand in the bag), i've managed to accomplish...uh....pretty much bupkis.

okay- maybe that's not quite accurate. yesterday, i worked 12 hours here at the station, including a six-hour stint where i could actually be heard on the (brace yourself) country station. even more interesting: i did well enough that i'm going to be back on the air next saturday (the 31st) from noon to 6pm eastern.

so, i just need to get hardcore rap and r&b out of the way, and i think i will have hit every major musical genre there is. i wonder if they give you a little certificate with some gold stars on it or something like that.

this morning's shift was spent... uh.... is it bad that i can't really recall what i did this morning? i mean, i was here, i went to the tea machine in the lounge at least three times, and the rest is a very fuzzy blur.

nice to know i spent my sunday morning doing something meaningful, isn't it?

i've been marginally more productive this afternoon/evening. i ate a couple of times (SO's in town and bought me a ridiculous amount of groceries on the way home from seeing the latest indiana jones flick last night, so i spent my break between shifts making bastardized chicken cordon bleu, tortellini with prosciutto and artichokes, and broccoli with horseradish sauce), scribbled on avon brochures, and figured out the invoices for the shipment that should hit my doorstep tuesday night.

so, i'm afraid i haven't had the most productive of weekends. on the other hand, after a week of packing the bosses' worldly possessions, maybe i needed a little bit of a break.

oh, yes- i had to actually use bubble wrap for a "grown up" purpose this week. do you know how hard it is for me to resist the urge to pop every single bubble on a sheet of bubble wrap? keep in mind that i was the creative genius who insisted on laying bubble wrap on the floor of our dining room before a college party we threw in maryville. (it seemed like an idea at the time, though i don't think anyone else realized the brilliance of my plan- even after a few uh, refreshments.)

unfortunately, we ran out of bubblewrap before i could wrap myself in it and climb into a box. (you might say i'm not taking this move well, especially since i've seen my sidekick on an almost-daily basis for over 4 1/2 years now, and now i'm unsure how often i'll get to see her- if at all. she, however, is somewhat oblivious to this change, as when i told her the other night that i was going to miss her, her response was, "my teacher says you have to move with us.")*

ah, what i wouldn't give to be blissfully ignorant.

i think most of the major tchotchkes were taken care of last week, including various vases and baskets with various fake plants contained within. (the first box was marked, "did someone demand a shrubbery?". by the fourteenth fake plant, i was calling them as i saw them. so, tomorrow, i think i can look forward to clearing out the spices in the pantry, the strangely shrunken backup towels in the linen closet upstairs, and whatever may be lurking in between the couch cushions.

maybe i'll get lucky and find a sunchip or two, since i sincerely doubt what's left of this bag will last the night......

*sidekick's other little nugget of wisdom fell out of her mouth friday night, when she told me (and then her parents, over dinner) that they should be paying me a lot to pack. their response? her dad told her they were going to let her pay me, which frustrated her a little because, as she pointed out, she doesn't have any money.

a long lost friend returns, and i'm too excited to focus

i have all sorts of things i've been contemplating posting about lately- but first, i need to share a couple of things with you:

thing one: i was thrilled to find out a favorite radio station from my childhood is back. i've been listening to their stream all day. where else can you hear the cult, jack johnson, siouxsie and the banshees, depeche mode, temple of the dog, and that timeless classic- "detachable penis"- all in one day? okay- without raiding my cd collection, smartypants.

thing two: through the whfs2 website, i found the new nine inch nails album- a free download. now, all i have to do is figure out which song to take off of my ipod to make room for "discipline".

okay. now that that's out of the way, onto bigger and better things......forgive me if i'm a little scattered this evening- i think i've had a little too much baja blast during the course of the day, and i'm too hopped up on caffeine to sit still for long or stick to one thought for any length of time.

~i've had a whopping nine hours of sleep this weekend, counting my hourlong powernap between shifts today. however, this does not count whatever length of time i wound up dozing in front of monty python's life of brian yesterday. (right now, i'm sure about four of my readers are saying, "how could you...?", but when you've had 3 1/2 hours of sleep, a footlong sub, and are laying comfortably on the couch, things happen.)

i was more than a little startled to wake up to the sight of graham chapman.... naked. in fact, i think that may be part of the reason why i had such problems getting to sleep before 12:30am.

needless to say, i'm hoping i timed my last sip of baja blast so that i'll have no problems getting to sleep when i get home at a quarter after midnight.....but preferably not a minute earlier, as i really would prefer to make it home before dozing off.

~i'm thrilled to report that i've finally finished putting together SO's photo album from our whitewater rafting trip in the Grand Canyon last October. now, all i have to do is get my album done, and then i can print out and assemble the bahamas, ireland, and last summer's big western trip. (a little behind? moi? surely you jest.)

~i am also thrilled to report that, though i'm more than a little unsettled about the bosses' impending move (2 weeks), i think i've arranged my work situation so i won't have to take up stripping to pay the bills. this is a very good thing, as i'd have to find an establishment far enough out of town so as not to run the risk of accepting $20s from anyone i know (okay- maybe only $10s, since i haven't worked out in awhile and i did eat junk food all weekend), yet close enough to civilization that if some drunk tried to forcibly persuade me into giving a private session, there would be poeple around to her me scream and kick him in the nuts.

also, i'd have to find a sense of rhythm and stiletto-walking skills, and i don't think you can pick those up at walmart or target.

~i was a bad, bad girl at best buy last night. so bad, in fact, that i had a store employee stalking me, asking if i had a reward zone card. the cashier told me to come back soon, and the security guy asked if i'd bought enough dvds. the next time i get the urge to "pick up a couple of movies", someone needs to stage an intervention. the kicker is that i even took a list with me. three things wound up crossed off of it, despite the fact that i had about ten items in my bag as i wandered out of the store in shame.

damn you, best buy. damn you.

on the bright side, a three pack of the indiana jones flicks was on sale, so now i can watch the temple of doom (all i remember from my last viewing was something about monkey brains) and the last crusade (the one with sean connery and the revelation that "jehovah" is spelled with an "i") before the latest installment comes out on thursday.

...assuming i can tear myself away from the audio stream for a couple of hours at a time, that is.....

...did i mention the dust bunny wore shoes?

perhaps i'll get around to a real post later this weekend, but thought i'd share something i found whilst (i actually got an email last week that contained the word "whilst". perhaps after i finish the great decluttering, i'll even write him back.) clearing out my closet (needed more room for the skeletons).

if, like me, you are (slowly) recovering from a bad tennis shoe habit, and some of your older specimens are a little worse for wear (i.e. the soles have been hot glued back on a few times, mostly because hot glue isn't really designed to adhere rubber to foam and five minutes after they've cooled, the soles flop back off, yet for some reason, you figure that if you just maybe smear on a little extra hot glue, it'll somehow bond everything together and you can wear those lucky shoes, the ones that saw you get hit on by a pleathora of drunk boys (or girls, as the case may be) at mardi gras ten years ago, as you're training for your first marathon (or half....or just a really major trip to the grocery store)

where was i? ah yes- rather than tossing the old sneakers (i feel badly about clogging up a landfill with my tennis shoes, which is my excuse for not getting rid of them- even the beloved mardi gras veterans- a while back) onto the trash, send them here:

nike recycling center
c/o reuse a shoe
26755 sw 95th ave
wilsonville, or 97070

nike grinds up old sneakers (no matter what brand, which is good, since 3/6 of the pairs i sent were adidas) and uses the resulting material to make playground padding. pretty cool, eh? check out the details here.

i wonder if, given the advanced age of a couple of my donations, i should toss an air freshener or two into my box....or at least scribble "open in a well-ventilated area" on the outside......

so this dust bunny walks into a bar....

i'm on a roll.....except when it comes to blogging, apparently, since i just realized (as i was catching up on comments) that it's been a month since i've attempted to pound out something mildly entertaining for your reading enjoyment. as usual, i have an excuse:

i've been cleaning.

i know, i know, it sounds lame. however, since i've been home more than usual lately, i've had time to become fully aware of the clutter in my apartment, right down to the embarrassingly thick dust on the baseboards- most of which, for the record, has been transferred from baseboards to vacuum, which finally experienced its first bag change since its purchase a couple of years ago....and i'm afraid i mean "couple" in a polygamist sort of sense.

with SO only up to visit a couple of weekends a month, i've had ample time on my hands to undo the grungier effects of long-term coabitation. i scrubbed the bathroom counters while on the phone after work one night. the kitchen counters were attacked another evening, though i think a more serious effort (involving clorox and perhaps an industrial-strength buffer) is needed at some point in the near future. probably before i borrow a hammer and chisel to take care of the petrified gunk resulting from five years' worth of spills between the fridge and the edge of the kitchen counter.

i hate to give the impression that we had housekeeping and cleanliness standards akin to those of your average cro-magnon, but after awhile, the little spills add up and quite frankly, after a day of cleaning at work (which is basically what my "personal assistant" position has morphed into), the last thing i feel like doing when i get home is scrubbing linoleum.

so, after a long period of uncertainty regarding its existence, i am pleased to report that i actually had a counter between my kitchen and dining room. i figured there must have been something holding up the envelopes, tax-related paperwork, halloween candy in various stages of petrification, random soda tabs (i knew someone once who was collecting them for a good cause. too bad i can't for the life of me remember who it might've been), george carlin 2005 page a day calendar, and jelly belly jellybean dispenser.

i'd provide photographic evidence, but i'm afraid the shock of seeing a clean horizontal surface in my apartment might finish mama off. she's too young to die, so really, it's in her best interest that i withhold such a photograph.

in addition to scrubbing and vacuuming, i've been decluttering. one of my goals before 30 is to give a box to goodwill per month. right now, i think i'm covered through roughly june 2009. furthermore, i've itemized everything i've parted with since early april.

i'm all over this.

this is a huge step for someone who, up until a couple of weeks ago, still had intact issues of metal edge magazine from the days when it was perfectly acceptable for boys to have big hair.

oh yes, it was that bad.

since i started the great decluttering, i've parted with five boxes of paper (old articles, posters, and magazines), the last four binders of patterns and project ideas from my stint teaching preschool, seven boxes and four tall kitchen garbage bags of possessions bound for goodwill, and three boxes of toys, books, et cetera that i toted off to the "surrogate parents" for their (and their kids') enjoyment.

i still have a long way to go, though. i have to finish numerous photo albums and buy negative sleeves in bulk before two bags of random photos (mostly doubles) can head out the door- and that's not counting the roughly twenty five rolls sitting on my dining room table, waiting to be developed. i have to evaluate whether or not i'm going to ever play a few board games that have been sitting, unopened, on the entertainment center shelf for the past few years. the oversized stuffed lobster and walrus have come close to heading out the door several times, but the lobster will look good in the lobster trap once i've finished cleaning it out, and really, who can deny the appeal of a stuffed walrus that actually groans when you push on its butt?

the appeal of carpeting that no longer crunches when you walk on it, however, is undeniable.

the long arm of the law

it started the day i got back from hawai'i.

there i was, minding my own business, sorting through the pile of mail that jumped out of my box as soon as i opened it.

bill
bill
catalog
fabulous credit card offer i can afford to pass up
bill
important looking envelope from the dentsville magistrate
rolling stone
catalog
other random envelopes and catalogs that aren't really registering right now because i'm trying to figure out what i've done to warrant correspondence from someone of a legal nature.

long story short (because i the paperwork is actually holding my place in my current reading material):

1. the body still hasn't been found.
2. nor have those stashes or hardcore drugs i'm constantly pulling out and snorting/smoking/shooting/sticking in my bellybutton.
3. i haven't been caught sleepspeeding on my way home from work again. (uh oh- hope i didn't just jinx myself with that one.)

it seems i've been called to do my civic duty. in the last major election, i voted for the candidate no one else in my state wanted (i seem to be a blue amongst the reds), and now i must pay my penance by sitting in a courtroom and listening to hardcore check-bouncers spin their tales of woe.

getting excused was not an option, though i was advised to yell out "nuke 'em all" during jury selection, so i'd be able to resume my regularly scheduled toilet scrubbing and floor sweeping at work.

don't get me wrong- there are some things i really love about my job: the coworkers, the kids, the flexible vacations, the way the puppies refuse to let me go out to the mailbox all by myself......



.....but i don't love scrubbing toilets and sweeping floors...especially when the dry lawn necessitates doing the latter on a daily (at least once, if not twice) basis.

so, the thought of spending my time raking in the big bucks while catching up on my reading and possibly giving those serial check bouncers an opportunity to practice balancing their checkbooks while doing hard time in whatever the south carolina equivalent of alcatraz may be......well, it had a little appeal. i mean, after all, it worked for pauly shore, didn't it?

(egads- did you know pauly's 40 now? i had no idea.....)

but i digress.

i agonized over what to wear for my first day of jury duty. i mean, i'm a jeans and sneakers sort of girl, and i was informed that such an outfit would hardly be appropriate for such a serious matter.

jeans were out, but that didn't mean i didn't have other options. i mean, i could have played this several ways:

~stilettos and a mini (in case there was some sort of "brawling in a strip joint" case on the docket.)*

~sweats and those stupid boxing gloves i paid twenty bucks for when i took tai-bo several years ago (for a hit and run case, of course)**

~eyepatch and crutches (surely they haul in the folks who park illegally in handicapped spaces every now and then. this is the one instance when i would be likely to yell "nuke 'em all!")

~plain black dress, sensible shoes (i'd have to borrow some, since i doubt the plaid doc martens would count), cardigan, and glasses (just in case there's a case involving failure to return overdue library books.....or a lawsuit brought by a librarian against the adult film industry claiming slander or perversion of a formerly respected occupation....and why am i reminded of the episode of "tales from the crypt" that starred adam ant and took place in a library?)

sorry- digressed again.

i finally settled on a plain shirt and khakis...but drew the line when it came to footwear. the plaid chuck taylors just seemed to tie the outfit together.***

i'd told the bosses the night before that i had jury duty and that they'd see the whites of my eyes only if i finished before i had to meet a friend/coworker for the def leppard concert that night.****

as it turned out, my stint as a juror was technically over before it began.

i was supposed to show up at the courthouse (actually a storefront in a strip mall, if you can believe it) at 10am sharp. in a rare show of overpunctuality, i got there at 9:55. i parked my car, took a wrong turn into (and back out of) the storefront for the DMV, and wandered toward the proper office at 9:57. as i approached the door, a woman came out and held it for me.

"are you a juror?"

"yes"

"well, we had a lot of cases on the docket this week, but all of them have been settled, so you're off the hook."

dammit- there went my chance to convict the most ruthless check bouncer in the whole county, which would surely lead to a book deal and an appearance as a member of a panel on some hard-hitting news show, which, of course, val kilmer/matthew mcconaughey/johnny depp would be watching on the edge of his seat, and he would be so dazzled by my brilliance and ability to walk in stilettos while wearing an eyepatch and using my boxing gloves to carefully drape my cardigan around my shoulders that he'd show up at my front door as soon as he could possibly catch a flight to columbia and ask if he could balance my checkbook.....

whoa- sorry about that. digressing again.

perhaps i'll go ahead and write that book anyway....just as soon as i'm done sweeping the floor.


*this would never have worked. i'm still learning how to walk in some 3" stilettos i bought on sale in phoenix last year, in the hopes that i'll get that particular goal off my "to do before 30" list.

**blame my dad for that one. i was raised to always smell the bad pun coming and to jump on it with enthusiasm.

***sorry about that. blame dad for that one, too.

****i will save the bulk of the concert for another post, but i can't help but take the opportunity to openly admit that:
1. phil collen has always been my favorite member of def leppard- and i have the posters ripped out of metal edge magazine to prove it and
2. i'm glad i called dibs early on, because he may be 50, but he's built more like a buff twentysomething. i can certainly think of far worse ways to spend a morning/lunch break/evening than having that torso invade my personal space.

will dig in couch cushions for food

as you've probably heard, the latest mc donald's ad campaign is geared towards the frugal- the "dollar menunaires". i know this because:

1. contrary to popular belief, i am not a total hermit and

2. when i got to the radio station yesterday morning (well, not right after i got to work, as i'm not really fully functioning until a couple of hours into the 6-noon shift), i was asked to record a commercial celebrating dollar menunaires.

is it bad that i actually nodded my head while reading:

"do you switch your car into neutral and coast down hills to save gas?" (seems like a sensible thing to do when a gallon of gas costs the equivalent of a double cheeseburger, small fry, and side salad, don't you think?)

"do you steam the wrinkles out of your clothing by hanging them in the shower?" (what's wrong with that? am i the only person in america who is too lazy to iron?* i think not.)

somehow, i managed to take dollar menunaireness (i'm trying to legalize that word so i can use it in scrabble. if anyone has connections to the fine folks over at webster's.....i mean, "bootylicious" made it in, after all. if beyonce can have a word, so should i....and i'm not just saying that because i'm hoping the mc donald's bigwigs will show their appreciation by giving me more stock.) to a whole new level today- not only was i a dollar menunaire on my way back to work, but i had to nickel and dime (technically, quarter) it, to boot.

as i sat at the drive thru window, waiting for the highly paid burger slinger to count my considerable coinage, i harkened back to the good ol' "poor college student" days, when i could get a week's worth of meals at hyvee for ten bucks (pasta and lettuce figured prominently), and still have enough left over to celebrate taco tuesday at taco john's on the way home.

since it took a while for the girl to count three dollars and thirty cents' worth of quarters and nickels, i also had time to ponder the time one of my equally broke roommates had to empty out her large coin jar to pay the bills. i can't remember exactly which errand i'd accompanied her on, but i vividly recall her plunking down a bag of coins on the counter, along with the stub from her bill.

i can honestly say i've never had to go that far, although that's mostly because i roll my coins, rather than carry them around in large ziplocs.

which gives me an idea: perhaps next week, to save whichever higly paid mc donald's employee happens to be working the money window at roughly two o'clock on sunday undue duress, maybe i should just go ahead and splurge, order a couple of apple pies and a large fry to go with my usual double cheeseburger and side salad, and simply hand over a roll of dimes as payment....but only if i manage to coast down enough hills this week to save a gallon and a half of gas.

*actually, i should clarify. it's not just that i'm too lazy- i also get frustrated too easily. i once threw a shirt out the window because every time i finished ironing one side of it, i'd flip it over and realize that i'd somehow ironed new wrinkles into the other side. since then, if it needs to be ironed, it's not coming home from the store with me.

back from hawai'i, sans tan

yes- i know that's hard to believe, but believe me, i had other things to do. besides, if i wanted to do nothing but lay around and turn bronze, why pay a considerable amount of money to do it somewhere exotic when i could simply hold down a chair by the pool in my apartment complex? (when we get back above seventy degrees, of course....)

while i could easily post a seven-installment series about my recent trip to hawai'i (okay- so only five of the installments would actually see the light of day), i figure it's best to summarize:

~some people rely on pamplets and brochures to plan their vacation. i used a combination of the official tourism brochure and hawaii trails by kathy morey.

~this trip allowed me to cross 3 goals off my list of "30 things to do before 30" ....and a fourth is up for debate. the three certainties are: travel alone to someplace new, hawaii, and visit three world heritage sites. (the other two sites were giant's causeway in northern ireland back in july, and the grand canyon in october.)

~culinary delights: papaya salad, spam musubi
i'm pleased to report that no poi was ingested during this adventure.

~hazards of the fauna variety (on land, unless land sharks make a comeback): none. there aren't any snakes on the big island, no any large carnivores that might want to eat me. as i understand it, there are feral pigs, and i saw a horse with a wild look in his eye, but i was perfectly comfortable hiking solo, knowing that i was unlikely to be chased by bears or mountain lions. most of my animal sightings involved either birds or mongooses. (or would that be "mongeese"?) interesting fact: the mongeese were introduced to the island in an attempt to solve the rat problem. unfortunately, rats are noctournal, mongeese aren't. as a result, there are tons of hungry looking mongeese all over the island.

rather than bore you with more details, let me share a few of my (roughly 1000) photos:


the typical hawaiian scene....though this was taken at a spot where people used to be sacrificed to the shark "gods", which isn't really something that gives me warm, relaxing, hawaiian feelings.


the downside of traveling solo? all of my photos of myself were either taken by random strangers (i got really good at walking up to random strangers), or else have the telltale arm in the corner. this one was taken at lapakahi state historical park.


the view of the valleys on hawai'i's northeastern coast, as seen from along the pololu valley hiking trail. the pololu trail was probably one of the more crowded ones i went on during my trip, but i really can't blame anyone for wanting to take in this view.


the pololu valley beach. it isn't safe to swim in the ocean here, due to fierce currents. random strolling and photographing are perfectly acceptable, however.


my first sea turtle sighting was at kahalu'u beach park, where i returned a week later to get the hang of snorkeling before flying home.


view from the waipi'o lookout. most visitors do not get any closer than this, and for good reason- the road is so steep that only four wheel drive vehicles are allowed to descend it.


once again, i managed to con other tourists into taking my photo. not realizing that the tallest waterfall in hawaii (1400 feet) was in the valley, i spent time wandering around the beach, and not the back of the valley, before beginning the climb back up. the trail was steep, to say the least. as i started to ascend, i was offered a ride by a bunch of college coeds in a jeep, which i declined. about halfway up, i wished i'd taken them up on it, as it seemed the trail would have been easier to handle if i'd just leaned forward a little more and crawled up it on all fours. however, by the time i got to the trailhead, i felt a sense of accomplishment....or maybe that was just the sharp, stinging pains in my calves making me delirious or something.


halema'uma'u crater, in the kilauea caldera, volcanoes national park, as seen during my $225 helicopter ride. during my visit, the crater was pumping out levels of sulphur dioxide that are ten times higher than normal. i found out right after my return home that, on the last morning of my visit, there was an explosion of ash and rock at the crater.


the lava flow, also seen during my $225 helicopter ride.


...and during my infinitely cheaper drive to the end of highway 130.





halema'uma'u crater. the rain jacket was the last thing i grabbed when i left my car at the charlotte airport, and easily one of the smartest packing decisions i'd made, since the hilo side of the island gets an average 140" of rain annually.


stopping along the kilauea iki trail in volcanoes national park. as you can see, i was unable to con any other tourists into taking this picture for me. there were cracks in the crater floor, still steaming after the 1959 eruption here.


my last major hike was to the captain cook monument in kealakekua bay. in addition to the monument, there's supposedly a plaque at the spot where cook actually died. unfortunately, neither i nor my sudden hiking buddy stumbled upon it. (however, since i've mastered snorkeling- one day too late for the hike- i'm totally willing to go back and look again....)




47 states down, 3 to go...and four months left to get them. admittedly, though, hawaii's been my favorite so far. (sorry, arizona.)

swept away for a moment by chance....

i have hooters on the brain.

no, not the kind that help fill out my bikini, and not the popular restaurant chain. i'm talking about the fine folks who brought you hits like "day by day" (my personal favorite) and, of course, "and we danced", which was stuck in my head until i started digging for the video link to "day by day".

okay, now that've just wasted half an hour jumping between videos on youtube, i need a moment to remember what on earth it was i sat down to write about in the first place. (it would probably help if i didn't have "(i'm gonna be) 500 miles" by the proclaimers playing in another window, huh?)

SO hasn't visited from charleston in a couple of weeks now. he was going to come out this weekend, but he's been slammed at work, so i've been on my own. no need to feel sorry for me, though- i managed to see two movies and attend a party this weekend, in addition to the 22 hours of work at the radio station i'm pulling this weekend...and let's not forget the kickass power nap i took between shifts earlier this afternoon. next weekend should be equally busy, but in a totally different way, as the bosses are heading off to another conference, and i'll have my sidekick and her brother in their absence. i still have to sit down with a map, hiking guide, and my list of nat'l park passport stamping locations so i can figure out what sort of trouble we'll try to get into, but i've got other matters to attend to first (like a 50th birthday present). SO is expected to join us for at least part of the weekend- at the very least, to drop off my laptop and his digital camera, both of which will be making the trip to hawaii with me later this month.

so,yesterday's matinee made the fourth movie i've seen solo in the past two weeks. sadly, i must report that ryan reynolds does not spent a large portion of definitely, maybe running around without a shirt, and i'm still trying to figure out when kevin kline started looking old. however, that aside, it wasn't half bad. (i liked charlie bartlett, which i caught friday after work, much better, though.)

post-movie, i ran errands yesterday. i needed footwear to go with the dress i wore to last night's party, as well as a card, and i made a pilgrimage to walgreens to get one of the photos from the bahamian vacation printed for the birthday boy.

somewhere along the way, i found myself sucked in by a sale at aeropostale (1 pair of jeans and 3 tops for under $60), which was almost as much of a mood booster as getting accused of being 21 when i picked up my photos. (the poor guy got so flustered when i broke it to him that he was almost a decade off, that he handed by my ten dollar bill, plus my change. a situation i resolved before sprinting out of the store in my newly acquired heels.)

i wound up 5 minutes late for my rendezvous with my party companions (okay. fine- 15, if you go by my originally promised time), and i'm pleased to report that the party went really, really well. most of the evening was spent twirling my sidekick around the dance floor, which ordinarily i wouldn't be caught dead doing (as i like to say, "other partygoers aren't drunk enough for me to dance"), but hey- life's short, and as long as i'm clothed, i don't have to worry about anything too embarrassing showing up on the internet when i'm rich and famous.

i mean really, do i want anyone wasting half an hour on youtube watching me dance? especially when i'm clearly drinking sprite, and therefore cannot blame my utter lack of rhythm on alcohol?

i think not.