Happy Holidays and random trivia.

It was a slightly crazy week, but I was glad it went by fast - it's almost Christmas! I spent Saturday out in the burbs on a shopping frenzy with Momola I'm not going to lie, a lot of that shopping was for me. I needed stuff! Besides, the whole world is on sale! I got bargains, and work clothes, organizational tools for the house, and a fancy party dress for the office party in January that I may miss if my flights don't get in on time. The dress is so wonderful that if I miss the party then I'm making up a reason to go out in that lovely. Also, I "organized" a gathering for the big birthday - nothing big, despite the big birthday, I'm headed to my local, letting people buy me drinks to celebrate my doing nothing but being born, and maybe we'll move on to second bar later in the evening - anyone's welcome to come along, we'll be at Commonwealth around 8pm, AND Lee has promised to come up. No night with Lee ever goes by without a story to tell!

Ok, on my first night out post-disease, I met a new friend who introduced me to this piece of trivia:

What temperature does it have to be outside for spit to freeze before it hits the ground?

I'll tell next time.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Miracles and Rewards

Tonight I did the thing no woman should ever have to do. I went (gasp) bathing suit shopping. I've got a vacation with Janemyjane and Neeners coming up at the end of August, and we're going to be lazing about on a beach. Apparently, this requires an outfit, of the skimpy and spandex variety.

I know I'm a big girl, and I need to lose some weight. That said, I don't have a cascade of body issues - I'm pretty comfortable with who I am and how I look. Enough men have been more than happy to see me naked, and that alleviates the secret fears of being scary and hideous - maybe I am, but I don't know it. The part of me I hate most? My knees. It's ridiculous, I know, but I think I have chubby knees, and regardless of how chubby the rest of me may or may not be, I have never thought my knees were attractive. How knees can be attractive, I don't know, but mine aren't.

However, back to the topic on hand; bathing suits are not flattering unless you're a stick. They're spandex, which may smooth part of you, but leaves the rest to do strange things where the constrictive fabric ends. Very few women are comfortable in a bathing suit. The last time I was in a bathing suit was when I was in Greece, and I was too busy being in lurve to think about what I looked like - I love that about being around someone who you know likes you as you are, you lose your concern about your faults. Anyway, it's been a while, and while I still own that bathing suit, I'm not sure I know where it is, and, well, it's a bikini, and I'm not sure I'm ready for that all over again. So, having waiting until almost August, I'm late to the swimsuit market and dreading it. Thanks be to Jane. She clued me in to MiracleSuits. They are, quite simply, magic. They claim to make you look ten pounds slimmer, and I don't know or care about that, because they are comfortable, and flattering, and I liked how I felt in it. Of course, being a bathing suit, I saw some leg cellulite I hadn't realized was there, and those knees aren't hidden, but a girl can't have everything. Block Island, here I come! Note to self, dig out that old wrap...

As a reward, I went to the book store, where I may have forgotten my promise to live frugally this month in preparation for vacation at the end. Let's view it as cheap entertainment, and leave it at that. Besides, I got a new journal for working on blog posts and such away from the computer. I have a couple of stories and rants in the works, and rather than just working them out in my head, I want to flesh them out and edit them for real. I'll keep you posted - hee!

Rainbows.

I don't do well in large stores. I don't like to shop under the best of circumstances, but put me in a department store or all-purpose place like Target, and I pretty quickly go into sensory overload. I don't know why exactly; is it the people who stand too close to look at the same item, the noise, the sheer abundance of choices to make, or the bright colors of all the things you hadn't come to buy? Unclear, but once the meltdown starts there are only two paths. The first is immediate escape, often without whatever it was I had gone in to buy - away from the people, the lights, and all of it. The second option is the overshop. I take too long, meander, and end up with things I don't need and can't always justify. This is what happened to me today when I entered Target to buy two plastic file boxes. That's it, that's all I needed. Suddenly I remembered that I needed new headphones for my iPod. Then I passed an end cap and remembered, I've been meaning to pick up some cd/dvd envelopes. And the grocery store didn't have the face soap I really like, so I'll check to see if it's here. The first season of Arrested Development was only 19$, so into the cart. I found myself strangely drawn to a short-sleeve sweatshirt with a flowery "Cambridge" printed on the front. I've made fun of short-sleeve sweatshirts in my head for months, but this one I could not resist. And pajama pants with rainbows on them.

But really? I needed those. I mean, seriously. Rainbows.