Shite pop songs that have permanently wormed their way into my life; when/how/(why?)

• "Too Little Too Late," by JoJo; playing on loop for 11 hours on "Top 40" station on United Airlines flight to and from Hawaii, January 2007
• "Big Girls Don't Cry," by Fergie; hated my relationship and job (and cried a lot), Summer 2007
• "Umbrella" by Rhianna; no excuse, Summer 2007
• "Give It To Me," by Timbaland, no excuse, Summer 2007
• "No Air," by Jordin Sparks feat. Chris Brown, overplayed by radio stations while traveling Winter 2008
• "Bleeding Love," by Leona Lewis, overplayed by radio stations while traveling Winter 2008
• "One Step at a Time," by Jordin Sparks (you are EVERY.WHERE.), played every single time I turned on the radio while in Columbia, SC for work trip, Fall 2008
• "Crush," by David Archuleta, played every single time I turned on the radio while home in El Paso, Fall 2008

Being meticulous

Like anyone else, I don't necessarily look forward to Mondays. But because I like a lot of structure and sometimes feel out-of-sorts on weekends because of the lack thereof, I usually welcome the arrival of a new week with relative eagerness - or in this week's case - relief.

I need to get the past week behind me immediately. I felt uneasy and strange all week - yes, partially because of the outcome of the election - but mostly, I think, because it was my first election as a real adult and I only absorbed its enormity for the first time very recently. And to be honest, it - and my participation in it - made me uncomfortable. Icky. It left me wishing I could be oblivious, you know, bury my head in the proverbial sand and not have to acknowledge that ok, maybe we really are in the middle of a global economic crisis, a climate crisis, hold a shaky geo-political position, [insert additional gloom and doom here] and maybe I really do have to think about it, talk about it, factor it in.

And not to diminish the terrifying clusterf*ck that is cold, hard reality, but it was also the first week of Daylight Savings Time and that always, always messes with me in a bad way. I didn't make it to the gym, couldn't focus at work, and otherwise was so out-of-sorts that I wasn't able to adhere to my other little obsessive compulsive disorders routines. Like I said, I take a great deal of comfort in being meticulous (Virgo) and when I can't manage to maintain my little habits for whatever reason - like putting on lotion right after I get out of the shower, for instance - it feels like the wheels might just fly off my life completely. Get a grip, lady, right?

Anyway, I'm thankful for a new week. And speaking of wheels falling off, don't even ask me about my car. Gawd.

One and only one [anything] post

It's a historic night here in Chicago. I'm at home alone - consuming media and a nice glass of wine - while most of my friends are rallying in Grant Park or at house parties.

A friend and I don't agree on everything all the time (except for the ultimate and everlasting suckage of the Blue Devils) but I've really been struggling lately for a succinct way to explain my views and my vote, and he captures them nicely after the jump.

Don't worry. I'll be back soon to posting about the stuff that really matters, like clothes.

http://www.xanga.com/SCVJefe/680050685/one-and-only-one-election-post.html

Ecoatnomics

I haven't bought a coat and I haven't fixed my TV.

My conscience won't let me buy the $1,200 Burberry coat. I definetely can't afford it, and I buy things I can't afford all the time (see: every entry on this blog), but I just can't make myself walk down the street - it would be that easy; I live in Candy Land! - and lay down for it. It's just... too much. How unglamorous to have to say that.

And someone who knows nothing about plasma televisions said to me: "I've heard that plasma screens just do that sometimes, man, like the lava that's floating underneath the screen - the plasma (the magma!) - gets stuck somehow." Well, that's good enough for me! Will just ignore it til it goes away.

Can't ignore the cold though, so I'm going to have to pony up soon - somewhere between Lands End and Burberry. That sounds like a song name - "Somewhere between Lands End and Burberry."

...sung by CRAZY.

Ready to start my summer vacation. Where is everybody?

Current temperature: 53 degrees

Oh. You say it’s October? I almost didn’t notice. Really! And I’ve said before that work topics are a *No-No on this blog – I generally like to leave work at work and devote blogging to the other Highly Important Things that occupy my mind like shoes and Silver Oak Napa. BUT. I only have one explanation for the absence of blog posts, and that is that I’ve been working on a large project since mid-April and essentially McFlied the entire summer in the process. HOWEVER, THUS, AS SUCH and THE IRAQ, we made a plan and then executed that plan (hi Jeff) in South Carolina a few weeks ago and I hope to Return to Blogging! with fervor.

Ok, BUT FIRST, I really desperately need to get my sh*t together, like, I need to clean my house and organize my files and attend Junior League meetings and get back in the gym and go grocery shopping and balance my checkbook and I kind of need emotionally to do it all TODAY, like AS SOON AS I GET HOME or my brain will explode, THEN? MAYBE? I’ll feel better. Here’s hoping. Ha!

After I do that, I’ll probably have to face the fact that summer is gone. But I love the fall here (we never really had fall in Texas), so this whole coming to terms with reality is a good opportunity to return to blogging about my original intended purpose: to write about things I like. Shopping and style. So let’s talk about two big-ticket items that I need for fall and winter and see if I can’t be inspired back to blogging regularly. Or, you know, ever.

A dress coat

Every year for the past three years, I’ve bought and re-bought this basic black wool dress coat from the Victoria’s Secret catalogue. It’s warm, it looks good, but the lining rips in the pockets and the bodice every year and it’s more affordable to just replace the whole thing than to replace the lining so I end up buying the exact same coat year after year. Dumbass. This tells me that perhaps this year I should spend more money on a higher-quality winter coat that will last more than a year. So I’m considering laying down the cold cash and buying the **Granddaddy of All Winter Coats (I almost typed “Goats” – I love goats!! I love them! I really do.), a Burberry coat. I refuse to buy a North Face coat (I did it again! A North Face goat!) because I also need…

Ugg boots

I love Uggs for all the right and wrong reasons. Mostly I love the concept of sheepskin-lined boots (right reason), but since I’m a little trendy (wrong reason) I bought Uggs back in 2003. They served me incredibly well until I forgot them in a shopping bag under the table in a bar/club last year during my send-off party from my old job. The shopping bag also contained a pair of Havianas and some gym clothes, so I really lost out. At least I didn’t have a pair of Rainbows and a Nalgene in there. Or I’d have to slap myself in the face - for the same reason I can’t buy a North Face coat - I can only handle one super-trendy/everybody has one/clone-lemming item at a time. Props, however, to those who can pull it all off.

So, it may be October, but I happen to have procured two things that would make any girl happy – a vacation and a shopping list. Not bad.

*At least this guy had a good summer vacation.

**I imagine he looks something like this. I mean, right?

Pre/Post

So. Today is 9/11, and I - likewise - don't have anything to say about it that hasn't been said more eloquently by others a million times.

The attacks happened three days after my 20th birthday - omg, seven years ago - serving as a poignant division in my memory between my teens and twenties... because obviously the world would never be the same, and neither should I.

At that point, I was just living college - I had not yet fathomed a life in anywhere other than Texas, not yet thrown myself into what would become a terrible relationship that would last for years, not yet decided not to go to law school, etc. But now I'm here. I don't know what that means. Seven years seems like such a long time. I can't believe that much time has passed.

On the other hand, two years ago today I started a job that, um, I ended up being not-so-crazy about. To say I was miserable by the time I quit (a year later) would be a sizable understatement. And in a lot of ways, I wish more time had passed so that bad experience could be further behind me. Two years seems like nothing at all. But now I'm here.

Anyway, this entry is all about me, and it's not the right day to think only about ones self. Readers, I hope all is warm and safe with you.

Sigh.

WeHoTown?

D.C. was neato. And I loved Georgetown. This sounds crazy, but Georgetown reminded me in a lot of ways of West Hollywood in Los Angeles.

Which got me to thinking about all the places I've been this year - for business and pleasure - Austin, New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Washington D.C., Dallas, Charlotte, and Mexico among others - and you know something? I complain about delays and nights away from home and deadlines and schedules, but my life is pretty rad.

Nevertheless, happy to be back in Chicago...

...for two days.

99 Problems

(borrowed from Traci)

I-Pod Crash Course

I can spend hours creating playlists on my I-pod, carefully picking the order of songs to capture a certain mood... or to avoid one.

According to my I-Tunes tracker, these are the most frequently played songs on my I-pod, and when I listen to them it's like a crash course lesson on my life over the last few years. Isn't music a trip? Literally - a trip through your memory. Some are happy, some are sad, some are new, some are really old. I play all of them over and over again in my car. Particularly the last three minutes of the last song, driving down Lake Shore Drive with the moon roof down, feeling young. Which is worth $18 of I-Tunes in spades, if you ask me.

Here they are.

1. Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight - Amos Lee
2. Another White Dash - Butterly Boucher
3. Nolita Fairytale - Vanessa Carlton
4. Things that Scare Me - Neko Case
5. Half Acre - Hem
6. Something Pretty - Patrick Park
7. Quattro - Calexico
8. Afterglow - INXS
9. High and Dry - Jamie Cullum
10. With a Subtle Look - Now it's Overhead
11. Miss America - David Byrne
12. Ooh Child - Beth Orton
13. I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie
14. One Great City! - The Weakerthans
15. Bedshaped - Keane
16. My Number - Tegan and Sara
17. Gold in the Sunset - Bob Schneider
18. Lovestoned/I Think She Knows (interlude version) - Justin Timberlake

One hot, tranny mess of a year. Like hot. Like celebrity. Whatever, I'm done.

Realize I probably shouldn't say "b*tch" on here, even though I'm totally quoting Christian Siriano, which makes everything ok.

I can still say "hot tranny mess" though, right? Oh, whatevs.

I promise that there are real fashion posts coming soon!

Well?

I did it.

Lake Geneva; or relationship "magic dust"

Looks simple enough, doesn't it?

Well, leave it to me to get lost both going to and coming from Lake Geneva! Tee hee. It's a good thing I'm cute enough that was relatively difficult for my most-charming passenger to get mad about it.

Forbidden!

I was just on JCrew.com making a wish lish of things I can't afford when I got the following error message:

"Forbidden (403). You have requested data that the server has decided not to provide to you. Your request was understood and denied."

Decided not to provide to me? Understood and denied? It's the "understood" part that freaks me out a little. It's like the Internet knows I shouldn't be buying absolutely gorgeous $250 jackets online, it knows!

Might do, might do

I need to go to the eye doctor, the dentist, the lady-doctor, the dermotologist and my car needs to go into the shop - all soon.

I think I will shop online instead.