Before my update begins, I must first apologize to my loyal readers (and the only readers who know this blog exists). Most of my updates consist of me bitching about something. I need to stop that. Nobody likes to read someone else’s complaints all the time. So I am sorry for that, and I will try to keep my griping to a limit.

With that being said, I can move on to some updates.

Bridesmaid dress: I forgot to say in my last post that I was wondering if I should go through all that trouble of trying to figure out if the other dress could be converted and then ask Denise if it was possible, or if I should just keep my mouth shut and alter the original dress like planned. I definitely would have cleared everything with Denise, but I wasn’t sure if it would even be worth it to try and fix the second dress. But anywho, I took it to the tailor, and the second dress (the shift dress) couldn’t be converted into a strapless dress. So they were just going to use the dress as extra material. The dress is suppose to be ready sometime this week, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it turns out okay.

Car: I’ve done lots of research on cars and have gone looking at a few. I was still holding strong on my desire to get a Jetta. I have talked to lots of current VW owners who all love their Jettas. I know that older models of the Jetta were pretty bad, but from talking to lots of current owners, the problem seems to be cleared up. I was in Corpus this week and test drove the Jetta, but the only model they had there wasn’t the one I wanted. My mom hasn’t been keen on the Jetta from the beginning, so I could tell she was glad when I said I didn’t want to go back and look at the Jetta again. I was bummed b/c I was hoping to leave with a new car. As my mom and I were driving around other car lots, she then said that I should think about getting a small SUV. I never thought of an SUV as an option b/c all throughout high school I wanted one, but my mom said no. She suggested the Nissan Xterra, but I don’t really care for it. I did some more research, and then laid my eyes on the Honda CR-V. I think it is now the front runner in my car choice. My mom even approves. A girl at work drives one, so tomorrow morning I’m going to ask her if I can sit in it. My mom will be up for the game this weekend, so I think we might go to the dealership on Saturday morning and look around. I’m still researching cars, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed on this one. Some of you may be wondering why my mom is so involved in this process – well, I won’t be trading in my Cavalier since my mom wants to use it, so she instead will be paying my down payment. She has expressed interest in paying for the entire car for me now that she will be retired after this week. While that is all fine and dandy, I would feel entirely too guilty if that were to happen. But what could possibily happen is that my mom will pay off the car and I will then make payments to her. Not like y’all need to know all that info, but I just wanted everyone to know why this car buying process is such a collaboration between me and my mom. Here’s a pic of the CR-V:

That’s about all in the update department. My brother asked me to run in the Nike Human Race 10K on Sunday and then go see Ben Harper afterwards. I’m definitely not going to be able to run the entire thing, but I am thinking about signing up and running/walking. We shall see.

Okay, that’s all for now. Toodles!

What would you do?

Here’s the back story: We found lime green bridesmaid dresses online at J.Crew. The dresses were perfect b/c they were in the color that Denise liked, plus there was a strapless and a halter style. So Denise ordered a halter style in her sister’s size (which happened to be my size, if not slightly smaller) and had me go try it on. It fit perfectly – then Denise decided that I was going to wear it in strapless with Staci and that her sister would wear the halter style. Okay. A few days later Denise called and said that she had ordered the dresses since she was going to pay for them. She ordered my strapless dress in the same size as the halter dress – which fit me perfectly. Well, the strapless dress came in and I tried it on. To my dismay, it didn’t fit. Well, it sort of didn’t fit. It was perfect throughout my hips and waist. But the bodice was extremely painful. There was all this boning inside the dress which made it tighter – it felt like a corset and I couldn’t breathe!

Halter dress (except in green) that fit perfectly:

Strapless dress that cuts off all breathing – right where that line is under the boobs is where all circulation was cut off:

Cut to present day: I called J.Crew and asked if they had the dress in a size bigger. Unfortunately, they didn’t. They weren’t getting any new ones in either since the dress was a summer only dress and it was already pretty much the end of summer (in terms of retail). They were extremely helpful in trying to locate any extra material that they could send me in the same material and color – that didn’t work out. So they put me on a list in case a damaged dress in the same material and color showed up, and they were going to leave me on the list until October 1st (keep in mind the wedding is October 25th). I felt that waiting until then was too much of a risk. And then something happened. While googling, I found the same material and color in a shift dress. I took the strapless dress to the tailor and asked if it would be best just to buy the shift dress and use that material to add to my strapless dress – they said absolutely. So I bought the shift dress online in the same size as the halter and strapless dresses that I had tried on.

The shift dress came in today. I tried it on, and it fits absolutely perfect. So basically the boning from the strapless dress is all that is keeping me from having a perfect fitting dress. Now, where I’m wondering what to do is this: should I take in both dresses and have the tailor cut up the shift dress and use the material to add to my strapless dress? Or should I see if it would be easier just to make my shift dress into a strapless? The only thing about that is that the shift dress has pockets (which you cannot tell just by looking at the dress); and the dress has buttons down the back, which the strapless doesn’t have. But then I could give the strapless dress back to Denise and let her return it – I think it’s been longer than 60 days, so she would just get store credit.

Shift dress front:

Shift dress back:

Do you think it would be possible for a shift dress to be converted into a strapless dress? Do you think I should go to the tailor and ask which would be easiest and then ask Denise? Or should I just say screw it and take both dresses in and let them rip apart the shift dress?

I thought all this bridesmaid dress drama was done with after my brother’s wedding, but it seems to be haunting me.

Thanks for any input.

They never do it right. I have been going to Avant in the Arboretum for the last few cut sessions, and I’m not happy with them at all. This is like my third stylist there. For some reason they never do the cut I want. It always seems like we are on the same wavelength when we first start talking about it, but it seems once they get scissors in their hands, they just forget about what was previously discussed. Today we talked about trimming the split ends off and putting some all over layers – no face framing layers and no layers shorter than my chin. I told her that I hate how my hair looks all one length, but rather I wanted to see various lengths of layers from behind. She showed me how much hair she was going to cut off. Eyeballing it, it looked to be about an inch and a half – perfect.

I left missing 8 inches of hair. For that, I would have waited until Thursday and went to Avant for their locks of love day. They would cut off 10 inches of hair and cut and style your hair for free. But I only wanted a couple of inches off. So now my hair looks exactly like it did when I went in, minus 8 inches. There’s no all over layers. Same layers as before. My hair still lies in the same exact manner as before. Just minus 8 inches.

I’m super bummed. I can’t curl it anymore. I can’t plan on styling it for the wedding in Mexico like i wanted anymore. I know it’s just hair. But I was loving my long hair and all the different options that I could do with it. And now it’s gone.

I think my best haircuts always occured at Supercuts when I was younger. I should just start going there again.

Man, this past week was super busy. I feel like I was always doing something, yet at the same time never finished anything. Probably the biggest reason for that was because I was trying to get everything organized for the Olympic themed birthday party at work. The days leading up to Friday were painful in terms of getting things done, as was the preparations on Friday morning. I hate when people volunteer for things and then can’t pull their own weight. In the end, the event was very successful and everyone had a great time (from what they told me). We ended up having the proper amount of food. I printed out flags to represent the different countries of the food and placed them on stands behind the food. So there was 7-layer dip and chips for Mexico; bbq brisket sandwiches for USA; Greek salad for Greece; sushi for Japan; pizza for Italy; eggrolls for China; meatballs for Sweden. For dessert I made cupcakes and frosted them the color of the Olympic rings and formed the rings with the cupcakes on another table. Some people got it…most people didn’t pay attention and just grabbed a cupcake. Anywho, it was fun.

The rest of my work suffered that week since I was busy running around. I’ll have to get on that tomorrow morning and get cracking.

I had free passes to see an advanced screening of Pineapple Express on Monday, so Terence and I went and battled the masses for seats. It was funny. I feel as though that guy Judd Apatow (or however you spell it) and the latest crew of funnies seem to stretch dirty jokes longer than they need to be stretched. Don’t get me wrong – I love dirty jokes to some extent. I just don’t see the need for them to keep going on for so long. But that could just be me. Anywho, I have passes to see Tropic Thunder this Tuesday (the movie with Ben Stiller and Robert Downey, Jr.) so I might journey to the theater to see that.

My mom came into town yesterday so we could hang out since we didn’t get to do that the past couple of weeks since my nieces and nephew were in town. We started the day off by looking at cars. That couple ended up going back and buying the Jetta that I was in love with. Whore – I could tell she was going to get it. There was another Jetta in the same color that I liked but it was standard. We didn’t actually get in the car b/c the salesperson never came out to us. Plus, my brother was on the phone telling my mom not to let me get a Jetta. I just wanted to sit inside it and see if I even liked it. We then went across the street to look at Mazdas, but my mom said no to that. Apparently a family of 5 was driving in Corpus this last week and had a blowout in their Mazda 6 and the car lost control, hit the median and then an 18-wheeler and then burst into flames. So we journeyed over to Toyota and looked at the Corollas. I found one that I really liked, and my mom really liked it, too. But it was pretty much the same as my Cavalier, just with 4 doors. So both my mom and I were a bit hesistant. I don’t know that I’m going to get a car anytime soon, so I should just stop looking so that I don’t get too attached.

We then went to the store where I saw the bedroom group, and I ended up buying it. I saw a dining table that I really liked, too, so I think I’ll go back on Wednesday and buy it. Now I have to get all this crap out of my apartment, so I better start cleaning and making room for the new furniture. I found a couple of rugs that I like from Target, so I might get one for the dining room area and one for under my coffee table. I decided to make the living room beige, light blue, and sea green colors. The kitchen will stay the same with red and yellow, but I might actually switch it up a bit to red and orange, and maybe yellow plates. Something like that. The bathroom is currently brown and blue, but I think I found a shower curtain that I like that is beige, blue, and green (like the living room colors) so I think I’ll go with that. And then I’m still undecided about the bedroom. I felt like a grown up looking at shades and curtains and area rugs and wall art. I’m so lame.

I’m boring you, I know. I have a couple of complaints to round out the entry – because what post would be complete without a complaint or two.

• I was at HEB today and this girl was wearing some sort of cut off sweat looking shorts. Well, they were super short, like right under her butt cheeks. And they were really loose. And I don’t think she was wearing any undies b/c her ass was hanging out and guys made sure to look. Who dresses like that in public?
• I’m suppose to go to dinner tomorrow night with girls from high school who live in the area. I had originally invited Kendra since she just moved to P-ville from College Station. I was going to take her to Chuy’s or Hula Hut. Anywho, she ended up inviting 4 other girls from school, which is fine. Except that one of the girls none of us was really friends with in high school. We knew her, but she was never in our core group of friends. She’s kinda weird. Anywho, she shot down Chuy’s because she is a vegetarian and wasn’t happy with their veggie selections. So in the end it was decided that we would go to PF Chang’s. Anywho, the vegetarian just sent a message to all of us saying “I can’t wait to see everyone. Unfortunately, I can’t stay for dinner so I’ll come for a few minutes and then I have to run out.” So then why didn’t she just let us go to Chuy’s? Ugh.
• I was on the Austin Rec Center volleyball message board and emailed a girl about a fall league b/c she was looking for another girl. She told me I would be on the team. Then I get an email from another girl and there are like 10 of us on the team. WTF?? Really, you only need 6 girls and then a potential sub. And you can always find a sub by sending a message to the board. I don’t know that I’ll play with them if there are 10 of us. Not to be greedy, but I want to play the full game. I’ve been subbing for a team this summer, and there is no reason to have 10 players on a team. The games aren’t streneous. And I don’t understand why they post messages on the board saying “I’m 6′ middle blocker” or “I played libero for a D-1 school.” It is freakin’ Austin Parks and Rec!!!! The average height of the girls that I have played against this summer is about 5′7″ and none of them have been particularly great.

That is all.

Oh…there are some HOT Olympic swimmers!!

Every time I thought about updating, I ended up going to sleep. So this post will be long and lots of randomness.

Let’s see what happened after the last post…

1) That weekend was the 11th anniversary of my dad’s death and what would have been his birthday two days later. I actually held up pretty well. I managed to stay busy and really only had one breakdown. More about that later. But this year was actually one of the easiest, so that’s good.

2) I went tubing on the actual day with Kim and Bino. It was freakin’ hot out there! And tubing always leaves you with one side burned and the other side white. Ugh. And I swear – tubing seems to bring out some of the trashiest people.

3) That weekend I saw two movies – The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia. The Dark Knight was pretty darn good. I felt that some people hyped it up way too much. When people asked my opinion after seeing it, I told them that it was definitely a movie to see but not the most amazing movie ever – but still a really good movie. Mamma Mia was pretty darn fabulous. I went and saw it by myself the day after the anniversary – which proved not to be the best idea, hence my breakdown. The movie had barely been playing for 5 minutes when I started welling up with tears. Of course the girl is talking about wanting her dad to walk her down the aisle. Ugh – why did I do that to myself. And then throughout the movie I continued to well up, but not necessarily about my dad. I hope I don’t ruin the storyline by saying this – but of course the daughter ends up having her mom walk her down the aisle, so then I started tearing up with thoughts of my mom. My mom has already said she is giving me away and dancing with me when I eventually get married. So I started thinking of my relationship with my mom, and then the song that Meryl Streep sang while her daughter was getting ready completely reminded me of my relationship with my mom – Slipping Through My Fingers. I was almost bawling at that point, and I decided that even though it might not be a “wedding appropriate” song, that my mom and I would dance to that song because it described our relationship. I swear the movie isn’t sappy – my emotions just get all sorts of out of shape around July 19th and watching a movie that could potentially blow the emotions up wasn’t the best idea.

4) Okay – off this subject. I ended up going to look at the bedroom groups from my last post. The first bedroom group ended up being super nice. The second group was a bit too big. I couldn’t even get up on the bed. And the headboard went up half the length of the wall. So I think it might be the first one. But I’m still undecided.

5) My mom and I have been talking about me purchasing a new car. My cavy has been giving me problems the last couple of months. It keeps breaking down in the middle of parking lots and roads and nobody can figure out why. I’ve been stranded in the middle of my lunch break and even at 10 p.m. after a volleyball game. I was leaning towards a VW Jetta, so on Sunday I went to look at some. I completely fell in love with one. I want it so bad! I don’t think I’ll be getting one anytime soon, which sucks because I’m in “new car mode.”

6) Work – a subject that might deserve its own post, but I probably won’t get around to doing that, so I’ll just post it here. At work we were divided into three teams – Enrichment, Outreach and Operations. I was on the Enrichment team. I say “were” and “was” because our Enrichment director, Susan, announced her retirement back in May. We knew that things were going to change and everyone has been waiting for some sort of news. Did I already talk about this?? Anywho, a memo was placed in our mailbox on July 3rd – conveniently when half the staff was out on vacation. The three teams dissolved into two, and the scholarships department was left hanging on their own. So now we don’t have meetings with any other staff members (besides staff meeting every Monday morning). Derrick and I weren’t too happy about that. And we are the only department who didn’t change – we didn’t switch offices, we didn’t get new job duties, we didn’t get current job duties taken away. Everyone was telling us how lucky we were, but it was both good and bad news. It was good that we didn’t get demoted like some people; it was good that we didn’t have to pack up and switch offices – but it was also a wake-up call for me and Derrick, and now we have to seriously questions our time at work. We keep hearing about this new huge scholarship program that won’t even happen for at least 5 years. We are being told that when that time finally comes, we will have more leadership (maybe like Assistant Director or something to that affect). That’s great and all, but that means we are in our current position for at least the next 5 years – and that pretty much sucks because that’s 5 years without every moving up, without ever getting new responsibilites – 5 years doing the exact same thing year after year after year…without a guarantee that in 5 years something will even happen. I don’t know if I can do that. I need stimulation; I need challenges; I need to have responsibility; I need something other than a non-profit salary in order to survive. I think within the year I’m going to have a conversation with my supervisor about what exactly is the plan for the new scholarship program, where she sees me fitting in, what might be a ballpark salary, and what can I do in the meantime so that I don’t get bored. If things don’t look promising, then I am already looking into programs to get my  teacher’s certification and will more than likely pursue that. Though lately I have thought about being a school counselor, but I don’t really want to go back to school to pursue that – and with the research that I’ve been doing, counselors are pretty much statisticians nowadays and are all about the TAKS test and those kind of things. So I really need to start weighing my options and seriously consider what to do. Ugh…

7) Okay – done venting about that. Bass Hall is in the final stages of completion, and I’m super excited about the line-up that they have for 2009:

• February – Legally Blonde
• March – Spamalot
• April – Avenue Q
• May – Rent
• June – Annie; Mamma Mia!
• August – Wicked

I never took advantage of Bass while I was a student, but I’m looking forward to hopefully attending as many as these productions as possible.

Okay, I think I’m finally done for now.

Toodles!