Category: Being a girl

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Being a girl Fashion Work

Day 4 – Not a picture, but I make up for it with words

Yesterday, around 11:30 am
Hmm…look at those co-workers wearing dresses. I never wear dresses. What’s up with that?

Last night, around 9:00 pm
Yeah, I could definitely wear that one dress I bought at American Eagle like 2 years ago…I have worn it like two times ever. I should do it! I should wear it! I will wear it!

This morning, 8:30 am
Find spanx. Find strapless bra. Put on dress. Inspect self in mirror. Think, I can pull this off.

8:37 am
Hair dryer miraculously works again! Stop while drying hair and look in mirror again. Think, Is this too low-cut?

8:39 am
I could wear a real bra instead of a strapless bra?

8:40 am
This dress is too revealing for work. What will people think? Will they call me slutty?

8:41 am
This dress is not revealing. I am just a prude.

8:43 am
It’s not too late! I could still change! I have freshly washed jeans, and a brand new UCD hoodie. I hear them calling me.

8:45 am
I should be adult about this.

8:46 am
Besides, I have to take advantage of this nice weather before it turns again.

8:47 am
OMG, I hope the weather doesn’t turn bad again any time soon.

8:49 am
Tell self to focus – I have to leave soon. Inspect self for twentieth time this morning. Remember the white cami I bought two months ago expressly for the purpose of wearing under revealing dresses.

8:53 am
After trying to go through clean laundry bag nicely, get desperate and dump laundry all over couch. (Sorry, Drew.)

8:55 pm
Find white tank, do fastest living room quickchange ever, one last inspection in mirror. Approved! I mean, white cami looks kinda weird, but better than making work friends uncomfortable with low-cut dress.

10:00 am
Realize that wearing a dress to work? Not really a momentous occasion in most people’s lives. Adjust to life in a dress rapidly. Just like a skirt, that covers more of you!

Categories
Being a girl Not awesome Self improvement Work

Menlo Park, 94025

Day 2 of my Realistically Regular Life: lunch.

My work friend Jonathan dubbed this my "sad-wich."

Trying to find the balance between “no money to spend on food” and “trying to eat healthy” is hard. Sure, I’d love to have piles of money to spend on fresh fruit and tubs of greek yogurt. The reality is that I have to figure out what’s already in the kitchen and how to put it together in the best combinations, to cut back on those daily trips to Safeway.

Some people can make eating on a budget sound glamorous and fun – I’m looking at you, Rachael Ray, traveling Europe and spending the equivalent of a tank of gas every single day and calling it a show. But really? It’s just another morning making another (lean) turkey and (2%) cheese sandwich with (zero WW-points) mustard.

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Being a girl Friends Memoir Self improvement Work

My life, realistically

This weekend I visited Davis, along with 2 of my girlfriends from college, and amidst the hours of nonstop talking (we had a lot to catch up on) I admitted having feelings of jealousy as of late. They reacted as I expected: much “Are you crazy??” and trying to explain to me why I was being irrational, but you know, sometimes jealousy isn’t rational.

We eventually decided the problem is Facebook – isn’t it always? – and then hatched a plan for a 14-day photo project.

The theory behind this is that people post all kinds of pictures of their awesome vacations, and their awesome dinners, and their awesome new outfits, and their awesome houses, and their awesome everything. And then you get jealous of them. But of course they’re not posting pictures of their dirty laundry pile, or the traffic they commute through, or the fact that for dinner they just made Hamburger Helper but they didn’t actually have hamburger so they used hot dogs and it was kind of gross.

So for the next 2 weeks I’m going to post realistic pictures of my every day life. Sounds like fun, right? Well, you’re welcome.

Day 1 – Here’s my getting-full recycling box at work, which I then had to take downstairs to the big recycling dumpster. Three cheers for mundane tasks that need to get done!

I just love recycling.
Categories
Beauty Being a girl Fashion Self improvement Sentiment

Pincurls: good for getting hair to fit under a wig; not good for much else.

I am the perfect target audience for marketers. The kind of person who sees a pizza commercial and thinks, Let’s have that tonight. One strong memory I have from New York is of watching Kung-Fu Panda on DVD with Drew one night, and during one scene where they’re all eating noodles, we paused the movie and went to Duane Reade to get Cup Noodles because they just sounded so good.

I know, right?

(Side note: Is it just called “Cup Noodles”? I feel like when I say it out loud, it’s like “Cup-a-noodles” but this was what they had on the official Nissin website, so…)

So what’s a girl to do with 8 hours of free time, no chaperone, and a book called Kabul Beauty School? She gets an idea to have her own little beauty school. And with still-damp hair from the shower, and a two-thirds-full card of bobby pins, nothing sounds better than putting her hair in pincurls.

I finished Kabul Beauty School, Drew said he was swinging by the apartment to pick something up, and suddenly I felt kind of stupid. So I unwrapped all the curls and was left with a head full of very crimpy, still slightly damp, hair. After I brushed it out it became very crimpy and now fluffy, too.

This is my friend Kirsten’s dog. He’s a schnoodle named Attila. We now look somewhat alike.

In fact, I remember having this same revelation years ago in college, when Kirsten spent like two hours braiding my hair into tiny braids, while I chatted on AIM with some guy. The reveal at the end of that escapade – which, I’m sorry to say, lasted a couple days as I left the braids in for maximum style – was much the same at this, and our third roommate, Hailey, dubbed me “Weird Feet Poodle Head.”

(The “weird feet” part came from a whole separate story, involving the interesting patterns in which I wore out my flip-flops.)

I guess what I’m trying to say is, it’s true that if you don’t learn from your mistakes you’re doomed to repeat them. And yes, I fully believe that in a few years I’ll be watching some movie or reading some book, and have some free time, and go, Hey, pincurls are easy and might be interesting!

Categories
Awesome Being a girl Fashion Self improvement

Everything you ever wanted to know about organizing a picnic

Probably most people have heard of Emily Post and her famous etiquette books…but have you ever cracked one open? Those babies are chock-full of gold, as I discovered when I snagged the eleventh revised edition at an estate sale last year.

Now it sits on the shelf and every so often Drew will read me a couple sections, which offer advice tell you exactly how to handle every situation from Introductions, Greetings, and Farewells (Part One, Chapter 1) to An Invitation to the White House (Part Eleven, Chapter 59), and it doesn’t stop there.

This edition, revised by Elizabeth Post (granddaughter by marriage of Emily Post), was published in 1965 and is 678 pages long, not counting the preface(s) and index.

I’m just going to crack it open and read you some paragraphs. I am not searching out specific passages.

Motels and hotels

To Assure Accommodations in Hotels:
It is well to write or telegraph in advance for accommodations in a hotel. A typical telegram reads:

PLEASE RESERVE DOUBLE ROOM WITH BATH FOR WIFE AND SELF AFTERNOON DECEMBER THIRD TO FIFTH.
JOHN G. HAWKINS

A letter is a little more explicit:

Manager of the Lake Hotel,
Chicago, Illinois
Dear Sir:
     Please reserve two single rooms with baths or with a bath between for my daughter and me. We are due to arrive in Chicago at five o’clock on the afternoon of December sixth and shall stay a week.
     I prefer moderate-priced rooms not higher than the fourth floor.
Very truly yours,
Mrs. George K. Smith

(Note that this is one of the few occasions when “Mrs.” belongs with a woman’s signature.)

Tea Dances

An afternoon tea dance often takes the place of the old-fashioned debutante ball. <<See Chapter 27, “Balls and dances.”>> It may equally well be given to introduce a new daughter-in-law. On occasion, it may be your responsibility to see that someone who has moved to your community is properly introduced, and a tea dance serves this purpose very well.

Invitations, especially to a dance given to introduce the bride of a son, are usually written on the visiting card of the hostess with “To meet Mrs. Grantham Jones, Jr.” across the top. it is equally correct, however, to use the inside of a fold-over card or an informal. They may also be telephoned.

The arrangements for a tea with dancing are much the same as for an evening dance. A screen of greens in front of which the musicians sit, perhaps a few green vines here and there, and flowers on the tables form the typical decorations. Whether in a hotel, club ballroom, or a private drawing room, the curtains are drawn, and the lights lighted as though for a dance in the evening. Usually only tea, chocolate, breads, and cakes are served.

Picnics: A Check List

The perfect picnic manager, like the perfect traveler, has made simplification an exact science. She knows very well that the one thing to do is to take the fewest things possible and to consider the utility of those few.

Fitted hampers, tents and umbrellas, folding chairs and tables are all very well in a shop – and all right if you have a trailer or a station wagon for hauling them. But the usual flaw in picnics is that there are too many things to carry and look after and too much to clean and pack up and take home again.

Therefore, for those who organize picnics frequently, it is a good idea to make up a list of all items that may be needed and check it each time before leaving. All the equipment may not be necessary for every picnic, but a list will prevent the salt or the bottle opener from being omitted!

===

I don’t want to overwhelm anyone, but please, if you have any questions about how to handle anything (new baby, second wedding, audience with the Pope, anything), then just let me know and I’d be happy to see what Emily and Elizabeth Post have to say about it. I guarantee it’ll be interesting and give you a new perspective on it, even if you don’t necessarily take their advice.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go sit in my pajamas and eat crackers and Babybel while reading a paperback.

Categories
Being a girl Work

My damsel-in-distress moment

I was in the restroom at work today when suddenly everything was plunged into pitch black. I wonder what it says about me that my first thought wasn’t “Earthquake!” or “End of the world!” It was just, “Aw jeez, I forgot to check the timer on the light.”

You know when you hear those stories about the person who goes into the bathroom and turns on the light, and hears the voice from the stall say, “Thank you!” because they’ve been sitting in there in the dark?

I’m not that helpless. Luckily I’m pretty familiar with the layout of the restroom, so I managed to find my way to the light switch pretty easily. I am glad no one walked in while I was feeling my way toward the door.

Anyway. That is pretty much the most exciting thing that’s happened all day. Other than that I’ve just been being productive at work, but that’s not particularly exciting. I think this afternoon I might get some new jeans.

Categories
"Other people" Being a girl

The perfect visual, one week too late

I guess the title says it all.

This is the neighbor‘s door.

She’s been gone for like 4 days and she put up a little note on her door saying, “Please leave packages at the office!”

This afternoon UPS brought something by and…apparently just didn’t feel like complying.

The package is marked with “WEN Chaz Dean.” I ran inside to Google it because I thought it might be something exotic, or embarrassing, or illegal.

Turns out it’s hair products.

Oh well.

Categories
Being a girl Books

I wish Twilight wouldn’t ruin everything

This morning, on my one-week-behind Sarah and Vinnie podcasts, they read the top baby names for 2010 (2011? not sure how this works. is it one year behind, like taxes? or is it somehow of this current year, even though we’re not even halfway through?). Anyway, the top baby name for girls is Isabella. Sarah said that’s from Twilight, which, while it is the name of the protagonist, it’s certainly not “from” Twilight.

The top baby name for boys is Jacob, and then Sarah and Vinnie and everyone went, “Riiiiiiight, that’s from Twilight too,” knowingly. But Jacob has been on or near the top of the list for years. I refuse to believe that has anything to do with Twilight. But with the rise of popularity of names like Macy and Bentley, which both come straight and irrefutably from the MTV show Teen Mom, everyone assumes there’s this pop culture explanation for all the popular names.

I have always intended to write a confessional about how I own all four of the Twilight books and have read them more than once. There’s just something irresistibly juicy and terrible about them. Yes, I know Bella is a total mary-sue character. Wikipedia defines “mary-sue” as “a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the author.” This basically describes Bella, who is one of the worst role models for young girls.

Some good female role models in literature right now:

  • Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games series
  • Katsa in the Graceling series
  • Hermione in the Harry Potter series

I am hard pressed to say why I read the Twilight books the second time, and why I will read them again sometime in the next year. There’s something about the storyline of the two strong protective guys fighting over the girl in the middle, that’s strangely captivating. The story is actually not terrible, as plot lines go. She manages to wrap up all the storylines she starts. It’s so easy and so quick to read.

It’s like eating ice cream out of the carton with a spoon. It goes super fast and then before you realize it, you’re halfway through and you barely remember any of it.

I generally don’t open my mouth about Twilight. I find that I don’t fit in with the groups of Twihard fans (yes, that’s an accepted term), but neither do I fit in with the people who disparage the books for utter trash. (I do think there has to be something good about getting so many tween girls to read, and enjoy reading, a 4-book series.) I have to find the middle ground, where I can fit in.

Wanted: A book club to occasionally read the Twilight series (all the way through, once every 18 months – 2 years). Requirements: You must agree that Bella is a terrible flat unlikeable character, but still read gleefully. Team Jacob preferred, but Team Edward understood. Fanfic writers and shippers need not apply. Please send a list of your top 10 favorite books, and a letter about your first experience with Twilight, and the best explanation you can come up with for why you like it.

Categories
Being a girl Dreams Endings Not awesome Self improvement

Getting schooled

Sometimes, you make plans for something in your life – something you really have no control over. Things like hitting the lottery, or getting an unexpected gift from a wealthy family member, or winning a competition that over 1000 other people participated in.

Sometimes, even though people in your life tell you not to count your chickens before they hatch, you still totally count your chickens before they hatch, and you talk about how you just don’t know how you’re going to manage to find time to fly to New York City this summer when there’s so much other stuff going on.

Sometimes, even when you’ve told yourself not to count too much on something, you have still secretly let your hopes creep up until you’re expecting a final specific outcome.

Then, when that outcome doesn’t happen, you may be understandably let down. You may also be a little upset, although it’s hard to say where that should be directed. Probably at yourself for not taking the advice of everyone in the world, and just staying humble and unassuming.

Possibly you should just be grateful for the opportunity to learn a lesson…and a lesson during which no one was harmed or even seriously offended. Also be grateful for the blog post topic, since the only other thing you could think of to post today was (yet another) discussion of Rebecca Black’s “Friday.”

Update: I’m not sad. Don’t worry about me. I’m not super bummed. Just reflecting on what I learned here.

Categories
Being a girl Friends Nature Self improvement Sports

Giants v Diamondbacks, Tues May 10

For this post, I have officially introduced a new category: sports. (I predict this will be the smallest category in the category cloud.)

Also, pretend I posted this yesterday on May 11th.

On Tuesday Drew and I and 5 other friends went to see the SF Giants play the Arizona Diamondbacks. We got the tickets mainly to support one of the teacher friend’s all-girls science club – of the ticket price, something like half of it went to the club. The teacher friend said she’s going to use the money to buy consumables: meaning containers that need to be replaced, things like vinegar and baking soda, food coloring, etc. A good cause.

We set out early to get to AT&T park, because we were going during rush hour, and the freeways can get crazy. Like, really crazy. Seriously. I’ve seen it. So four of us left around 5:00, to give us enough time for traffic, parking, and then walking up to the park. We intended to meet up with everyone at 6:30 by the Willie Mays statue.

This is what we were trying to do:

It’s also basically what we ended up doing. We found ourselves standing outside AT&T Park at about 5:30. Luckily the other friends are equally as conscious of traffic, and so we were all there at relatively the same time.

We stood outside for awhile, admiring the commentors doing their thing, and the line for the bobbleheads (?).

It was a very nice day, albeit windy. I was wearing my Wicked sweatshirt, as it’s the softest and warmest thing I own, even if it’s slightly embarrassing.

Here’s Willie Mays from another angle.

When we went into the park, we found that we had the BEST SEATS IN THE PARK. Because we were so far up. The higher up your seats are, the better they are, right? Because you can see everything without having to turn your head, plus they bring hot chocolate and churros right up to you.

You also get the best view of the fog rolling in, as it’s wont to do.

Soon the pharmacist friend wanted to go get a crab sandwich. Legend has it Tyler Florence himself comes to AT&T Park and makes them. So we went off in search of crab sandwiches. We found the booth, and Tyler Florence. We also found a place where I could get a Sprite for $5.25…the best kind of Sprite. We were somewhere behind the giant screen.

At the sounds of the National Anthem being played, we headed back to our seats. This is when I discovered that the giant Coke bottle is a slide! Before then, I believed that was just one of the things my dad said to be funny. Imagine my shock and awe when I saw that it’s not only one slide, it’s SEVERAL slides, and children were all up in it. Pharmacist friend asked if I wanted to go down the slide, and I did, but unfortunately I’m nearly 27 years old.

My dad also says that there are places in the park wall where you can watch the game from outside, without having to buy a ticket. Here is proof of that.

See? Little windows for cheap people.

Well, the game went on. Aside from the crab sandwich, among us we also consumed many Vietnamese sandwiches (banh mi, smuggled in from outside), something like 5 hot chocolates, my Sprite, parmesan and herb Sun-chips and jalapeno Cheetos (also from outside). I guess that’s all. One thing I learned is, I will bring my own snacks next time.

And the game went on. Eight and a half innings with the score still tied zero to zero. Around the sixth inning I started thinking I would rather lose the game after such a fight, than have to go into extra innings. But you have to understand, it was cold, and getting later, and it was only Tuesday night. Early in the week.

In the bottom of the ninth, everything came up roses when Cody Ross RBI’ed Darren Ford, and the game was over! Thank God! Plus, we won, and Colorado lost, and I think that means we might be number one now? Not sure, because I’m kind of a part-time baseball fan. Someone will correct me, surely.

So then we began the night exodus out of the stadium and back to the car.

Even though I wouldn’t like to go every game (or even every other game), I still had a great time, and it was even sweeter since we won. Nothing like a sense of totally unearned smugness.