My hair dresser is magic

I never, ever straighten my hair because I really like my natural waves (and I’m lazy when it comes to wanting to mess with it!). If I do something for a special occasion I add curls, not take them out. However, my hair dresser likes to straighten it and I usually let her. She thinks it’s better to ensure she gave me a good cut & think it makes the color prettier, because one can then see the different shades. I don’t necessarily agree with the former (she is the pro but I’m not convinced that a straight cut guarantees the hair will lay right when it is wavy-but I always love what she does so she must be doing something right). I will have to agree that we can see the color better. 

 
Fresh from the shop but after prepping for a night in. Shades of purple. Again.

I took the first picture with the front camera so I could see what I was doing but there isn’t enough light. Here is a better shot of the color.

I have been seeing Rebecca for about 15 years and she always does an amazing job with my hair. If I ever win the lottery, the first thing I will do is pay her to be on-call to do my hair once a week and on special occasions. 

Finally! These are the trays I have been looking for

I moved into my house back in July and I’ve been looking for a tray to go in my new living room ever since. I had no luck finding anything that appealed to me and the few that I found and considered to be OK were much more money than I was interested in spending. Some of them where hundreds of dollars for plastic. 

However, last week, while looking for something else, I found these. They include the exact colors I was looking for and incorporate my love of travel. 

 Bonus: they came as a set of three instead of just one and were under $100. If only I can wrap up the rest of my decorating as successfully.

I have a weakness for office supplies

There is something magical about office supplies, especially planners, that I simply cannot resist. 

I am a huge fan of Stephen Covey and actually use PlanPlus Online for tracking most of my appointments, to-dos, goals, etc. but I like having a paper copy that I use more like a journal and record of my daily progress. Having both electronic and paper is important to me. 

A colleague got me hooked on Erin Condren planners last year with how customizable they are so I had to order my new one for 2019 but yesterday a different colleague was showing off her disc notebook and I instantly knew I had to grab one of those too (I opted for the Tul one in purple leather, bottom right corner).

I hate when my notes get disorganized in a notebook, which is part of the reason I go through so many of them because I am constantly having to start over to make sure things are the way I like them. The disc notebooks get rid of that issue and allow me to pop in bookmarks, dividers and folders so I can keep all my things in one place.

I think I am in love! 💙💚💛💜

New boots for fall

While it is true that I am blessed with an overabundance of shoes, I found myself in need of a pair of boots for autumn. This is what I got. 

They survived being left out in the thunderstorms all day last Monday. I am so relieved because it took me a while to find a pair that suited my needs and this was the last pair in my size. Besides, I have an unnatural love of fringe so these got bonus points when I made my final selection.

Life update

I’m so tired! It’s been a great, busy week. I’m loving my new job. Everyone on this team is so smart and so supportive (significant raise doesn’t hurt either!). My biggest concern is that I don’t fall back into old, negative patterns out of habit and fuck it up. It’s so challenging and gives me a great opportunity to use my skills while learning some new ones. I’ve been putting in extra hours to get up to speed as fast as possible but didn’t even notice because the days have just flown by. I couldn’t be happier!

I could definitely use a good night’s sleep. The only thing I “have” to do tomorrow is try to tackle unpacking my books and the remaining shoes. The two things I have far more of than I should. (But they are books! I need shoes!) What a nice “problem” to have.

I’m heading to bed just as a thunderstorm is rolling in. My life truly is blessed.

Love to you all!

Happy and appreciative

Vacation is over. I go back to work tomorrow after two weeks off to settle into my new house. I was able to get most things taken care of although my office/library still needs a ton of work (and probably a couple more bookcases, if I can squeeze them in!)

It’s been grand and the house still suits me perfectly (which is good since I’ll be paying for it for a long while).

So far I have one friend and my mother who have come to see it. This has resulted in a large influx of alcohol to celebrate. That’s a nice thought except I don’t really drink. So now I just have all these extra bottles sitting here that I have to find room for. It kinda irritates me because these are people I have given me “extra” alcohol gifts to in the past because I never consumed them and wanted it out of the way. Why isn’t it okay to celebrate by cutting into a cheesecake instead of cracking open a bottle of booze? (They did both bring some of my favorite foods too so they were on top of that, I just hate that the money was wasted on something I have no use for.)

Anyway, I start my new position at work tomorrow. I went into the office for several hours yesterday to move my things after I had my hair done. I’m both excited and a bit nervous. It’s a perfect fit for my skills but I’m concerned that my former supervisor is going to make this difficult by continuing to expect me to do my former job too. She’s said that my new supervisor is on board with that so there may be expectations that I am not yet aware of but my new position is actually equal if not higher than hers is so this may be tricky. I like working with her but sometimes she just isn’t realistic. I plan to discuss it all tomorrow with the director so that we are clear all around on how this is going to work moving forward.

Big changes! They are great ones and position me well for the future but, because stress (good or bad) causes me insomnia, I’ve been constantly tired for a while. It’ll be nice to get a good night’s sleep again. Maybe next weekend after I’ve had a chance to settle with the new promotion too.

Hope everyone else is also doing great! 2018 has brought me wonderful changes and I wish them for you all too!!!

It's been (almost) two weeks

I still have not mastered my new job or being a home owner. Somedays all that I need to get done kicks my ass. Every weekend has just been me trying to catch up to where I think I should be. So today I decided that if I got my to-do list done that I would treat myself to some goodies for dinner. A fresh baguette, the good brie & genoa sausage, a glass of plum wine. (The furry one approves too since she loves cheese.) Now I’m sitting in the recliner with my feet up. I’ll read for a short bit before heading to bed for another busy week.

Please know, I am in no way complaining. This has all been fantastic, just need to make sure I remember to make time to relax occasionally. Hope you all are taking care of yourselves as well.

I am in my new house and couldn't be happier

Worked my ass off today moving most of my belongings in. Now I’m sitting in my backyard, enjoying a well-deserved glass of plum wine and some pizza from my favorite pizza place (I’m back in the delivery area. yay!), listening to the sound of my (kinda ugly but still relaxing) fountain and enjoying the twinkle lights. 

 

Hope your day is going just as beautifully!

I am in DEBT and I couldn't be happier about it!

For someone who is careful to pay off all her credit cards each month, I sure am in a lot of debt…. Closed on my house this morning. 

I am finally a homeowner!!!!!  Yay me!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The previous owners will be moving out and painting the next couple days and I can start moving in Wednesday night. I hired movers to be here first thing Friday for the big stuff (we moved the closing up a couple days but I couldn't change the movers so I will wait as patiently as I can and move some on my own in the meantime). 

LIfe is grand

Chilling at home with the lights off: illumination coming from a bunch of candles and my fake fireplace while it snows outside. Sipping champagne with my chocolate cherry torte to celebrate a raise, a new job opportunity and a beautiful home that perfectly fits my needs becoming my reality. 

Life is grand even if I celebrate it on my own.

Bloom when you want to bloom

My Christmas cactus is blooming today. I have had it for years, ~5, and it hasn't bloomed once since I bought it. Today is 98℉ but it has decided to grace me with a bunch of brilliant flowers.

It is a lovely surprise!

Tryiing to brighten someones' day

I got together Wednesday with a friend I used to be very close to. Unfortunately her mother was just diagnosed with cancer. Yuck! Mom has always been very kind (has had me over for dinner, I leave with a packed lunch for the next day, loaned me their vehicle for a couple weeks when I had car troubles and they were going on vacation…). It’s a shame really. 

Fortunately, things are much better for me financially now so I was able to send her some flowers as a surprise to brighten her day. Hope she’s able to beat this.

Sent my friend some too since I know all the extra struggle she’s going through with concern and supporting her mother on top of other things going on in her life.

I used to dislike fresh flowers because they seem to die so quickly but, over the years, I have come to appreciate them more and enjoy spreading the love by sending them to people I care about. 

I've been known to buy myself a bouquet on a regular basis as well. Self love is just as important as any other kind. (More, actually.)

 

Gluttony

I may explode. 
If I never post again it’s because I died from over eating. 

OMG I am so uncomfortable. I made a fantastic pizza with pepperoni, red onion, green olives & banana peppers. It was delicious and I ate a reasonable amount that left me pleasantly full. 

However, as I was getting ready for bed my sweet neighbor lady tapped on my door and brought me a plate of food she made for me. Papusas & curtido. 

I was not hungry at all but could not resist the thoughtful kindness so I ate that too. It was heavenly! I shall have to prepare something equally tasty to share with her and her son next week so I can repay the favor.

And now I may be heading to heaven over night here because of pure gluttony…although, considering that’s one of the 7 deadly sins, maybe I’m headed to hell instead. Ugh! I am so uncomfortable. Pray for me.

Single life

Something  is happening although I have yet to figure out what it is. 

In the past week I met three different men who told me they wanted to ask me out. 

#1 was cute, smart and I did like, so he never actually followed through. *sigh*

#2 was already a no go before we finished our initial meeting. I might have overlooked the DWI and the fact that he apparently owns nothing, even at our ripe old ages, but then he made a couple racist ass comments and had to be chewed out in front of everyone at the coffee shop. Even so, he, of course, still managed to try to set some thing up with me later on since I had given him my number earlier in the conversation. 

#3 didn’t even approach me but left a note on my truck. I was rather turned off by that because it seemed rather high school-ish and cowardly but my friend talked me into texting him because, as she pointed out, I would have complained if he had interrupted me too. (she may know me too well!) We’ve been texting the past couple days; he was genuinely disappointed when I responded that I had no clue who he was. After all (according to him, we have smiled at each other several times…  ?!?  I smile at everyone I make eye contact with. EVERYONE. Even after he sent me a photo I would have sworn that I had never seen him before. The bummer was that he looked a lot like my ex husband so that was working against him. Why is it that primarily blond men with blue eyes are attracted to me when I prefer dark haired men with brown eyes??? The universe is messing with me, I swear!) We met for coffee this morning and while he was pleasant enough, and said several times how intimidated he is by my beauty, I can already tell we are not going to be compatible. I continue to be flabbergasted by the people who have seen me multiple times but some how manage to miss that my hair is half purple. He’s never traveled outside the US and did not seem at all interested in my travels. Expressed no interested when I mentioned my degrees. I mentioned the motorcycle and he didn’t ask anything about that. Mostly he just looked at me with little cartoon hearts bubbling out of his eyes and couldn’t carry on much of a conversation at all. I asked him numerous questions about himself but he only reciprocated with dull resume questions that had no depth (asking if I went to college but then nothing after I mentioned that yes, I have been going for many years and have a variety of degrees. Didn’t ask where, what I studied, anything to follow up.) He made a couple rude comments about mentally ill and poor people that, again, caused me to have to chew him out for not appreciating all the advantages he has compared to others and that may have been the clincher for me. The squished-face and judgemental looks at my tattoos may have done it as well. Why does he even want to see me again when I am clearly not his type??? That is the baffling part, to me. 

Anyway, I am grateful for the interest, but gonna have to keep waiting.

Heading to the airport in just a bit. Soon (relatively, while I’m messing with airports it’s gonna feel long and tedious) I will be in the Dominican Republic, lounging on the beach and sipping fruity beverages with little umbrellas in them. 

I couldn't find anyone who has tried one of the Groupon all-inclusive vacations so I figured I would be the guinea pig. Even if it is bad, it will be an adventure and keep me from obsessing about my plan to start looking for a house next month.  I should, perhaps, be saving my pennies instead but $820 for an 8-day vacation was too good to pass up.

I’ll be back on the 29th with a tan. Take care of yourselves until I return.