Archive for November, 2008
Car-less in the City
A month or so ago, I started thinking about what it would be like to sell my car… and started to question, “Do I really need a car since I work and live downtown?”
Most everyone I posed the question to thought I was crazy – but all I could think about was the money it’d save. So, I thought about setting a November 1 date to attempt to go “car-less” for a period of time before I really decided to kiss my beloved little red Bug away.
Be careful for what you wish for.
In the hectic-ness of Halloween and then the election, I missed my November 1 set car-less date. But, as fate would have it–I lost my car key Election night, so I was intermittently forced to go car-less anyway. Unfortunately though, this little amendment to the car-less plan is going to cost me $220 to replace my computer-chip key that has to be purchased and programmed from the dealership. (AN.NOY.ING)
In short: my car has been parked for the last two plus weeks, and I’ve been making my way through the city by bus. And I can tell you, for an extremely independent woman, living without a car is effing brutal.
It’s nice and all to walk more places (with increasing blisters on my heeled feet) and to save money on gas and cab fare (taking the bus to bars), but it is IMPOSSIBLE to do a lot of things that I’m used to—like running to another neighborhood for dinner with friends on a Thursday night. Oh no, this now requires two hours worth of busing and three transfers to get home, but “home” is really six blocks away—at 10:30 at night. I don’t have that kind of time or energy when I’m tired after work. So, instead of traveling for two hours via bus to hang out for dinner for one hour, I skip out on the dinner. [NOT OKAY in my book.]
By the time I get most places by bus, I’m too exhausted or annoyed [read: increasing amount of time on the bus = spending more time with crazies than I do with my own friends and family. I don’t think this is good for the soul] to want to accomplish the goal of my errand in the first place.
I would like to go car-less at some point in my life, I just don’t think it’s feasible while living in Seattle, with family 30-minutes north and two-hours south; friends who live 20-minutes plus from my house by car; and a boyfriend who lives 30-minutes plus by car.
In conclusion: I am going to learn from my new crazy friends how to panhandle money to save up for a replacement car key since Christmas, the economy and saving for a friend’s destination wedding in five months deems it an impossible expense at the time.
ARGH!
Currently Feeling: Sick of staying home to save money this week.
Currently Anticipating: Catching a drink with Amanda and our old friend in Ballard tonight.
Currently Regretting: My lunch-time retail therapy. Oh, but I got two beautiful new scarves!
It’s a rough Thirsty Thursday in my house tonight
She passed out early after a hard night of partying.
–
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Love Quickie
At the bottom of my lovely little cherished Glamour magazine, I read this:
“Recent surveys show that being funny is the #1 way most men and women attract a partner.”
Which I’m totally attributed to this entire little dating mishap. Whew…now that THAT was solved, on to bigger and better things!
Currently Anticipating: Finally getting my hairs cut off tomorrow. My haircut has NO shape and has been driving me nuts!
Currently Feeling: Like I pulled something in my neck. Argh!
Currently Reading: The “Women’s Health” subscription someone anonymously and randomly purchased for me, sent to my attention at work. Are they trying to tell me something?
Seven kitschy and UBER super weirdorific facts
[I don’t usually do these list type posts that remind me of MySpace surveys, but thanks to NaBloPoMo and FlipFlopsintheRain, I’ll do it just.this.once...]
- I reread every text, every email, every blog post and virtually EVERYTHING I ever write, over and over again – at least three times – if others people’s eyes might see it.
- I say Birfffday, not Birtthhhday, and didn’t realize it until it was pointed out a mere couple years ago—I still can’t stop.
- I know all the words to the Milli Vanilli CD and have it on my iPod to listen to regularly.
- If I don’t have my toenails—and oftentimes my fingernails—painted, I feel super gross and unkempt.
- I have to eat mustard with my Thanksgiving turkey.
- I’m fidgety if my attention isn’t totally kept—I’ll constantly play with my eyebrows if I can feel a stray hair; I’ll file, chew or clip my fingernails while watching TV; and one time I snipped off the tops of every Hershey kiss in a candy bowl at my girl friend’s house (without really realizing it) because we were just sitting around, aimlessly talking.
- Some of the blogs I read are written by women that seem SO totally awesome, that I oftentimes think about how much I want to be their friend and look them up if I’m in their hometown.(I’m not a total creep, I swear).
Currently Feeling: Sickeningly sweet after Dove dark chocolate and red licorice.
Currently Anticipating: The season premiere of Top Chef tonight! LOVE it!
Currently Needing: To save for Christmas.
Food for Thought
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. EXPLORE. DREAM. DISCOVER.”
Currently Anticipating: The 20-Something wine event I have tickets to next weekend.
Currently Annoyed With: Book and music snobs. (Although I’m a bit of one myself).
Daily Tweet Babble: My weekend
- going to Toys in Babeland to pick up my treat for voting!
- have a night of lots of wine and fancy hors d’ouvres ahead of me.
- getting ready for my work party tonight.
- helping my boyfriend remodel his bathroom.
- loves Goldfrapp.
- just ate cold pizza. Breakfast of champions.
- gonna try to push through this day with a smile plastered on my face
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Currently Anticipating: Happy hour with girls tomorrow at The Zig Zag.
Currently Dreading: My big “team dynamics” meeting tomorrow.
Currently Listening To: Michael Franti and Spearhead–love em!
All that GLITTERS!
My coworker alerted me to this fabulous event that takes place in Seattle once a year–the Goodwill Glitter Sale. Apparently, every time The Goodwill receives designer shoes or clothes, they put it aside (not out on the floor) and save everything all year long, until the annual Glitter Sale. Women fly in from all over the nation, and lines are around the block for the designer duds and dollar prices. Woo hoo! I’m planning on going, want to join me?
The one-week countdown begins.
Currently Feeling: Glad that I helped Mike out with tearing out his bathroom. It’s a start!
Currently Anticipating: My work party tonight with all I can drink wine and all I can eat hors d’ouvres.
Currently Loving: French onion dip.
In which I relent on hating hippies, just a bit
Last night I finally tried out this Nia fitness class at my gym. I recently grabbed a calendar of classes, scowering for a few fun ones I could hit after the 5 o’clock chime rang at work. The description for the class read,
“Bring total well-being to your lifestyle through Nia, a unique workout that empowers physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health by blending dance, martial and healing arts to creatively move “your body’s way.”
So, I Googled it to wrap my head around the concept a little more, and found a Web site that explained that Nia is a combination of martial arts (T’ai Chi, Tae Kwon Do, Aikido), dance (Jazz, Modern and Duncan) and healing arts (Yoga, Feldenkrais method and Alexander technique), and Nia stands for neuromuscular integrative action.
It all sounded very hippie to me… I was reminded of the Sex and the City episode when Carrie and Miranda take the fitness class with scarves…and although I’ve previously stated that I dislike hippies, I decided to give it a try.
True to my preconceived ideas, the class was Earth-loving, good thoughts, auras and chakras. But it was also totally awesome. The music was upbeat and modern, and we were supposed to wave our arms, stretch or reach to the side in the “movement right for your body.” It was a lot of freeform, dancing around the floor, “reaching to the sky and pounding the Earth,” mixed in with some true martial arts kicks, punches and loud grunts. It was totally hilarious, and I tried to ignore the people, walking by the glass walls of the classroom. I don’t know if I would have been able to truly let go and follow along with the class if I’d been with someone I knew. But I gave it my all. I grunted, and flung my arms, and twirled around like a butterfly, and kicked and punched the air (while picturing my frustrations).
Afterward, when the lights were out, and we were sending out our good thoughts into the World, loving the whooollle human race and pushing all the bad thoughts out of our head, I thought, “I’m totally coming next week.”
Currently Feeling: Restless for the weekend.
Currently Anticipating: Staying in tonight with my BF, a bottle of wine and some cheesecake.
Currently Excited For: Larisa and Dave, who finally set a date!
Toes tappin’, fingers snappin’ – it’s party time!
I’ve been in a serious mood to entertain lately, thinking about all the parties I can plan, co-host with my friends or peer-pressure others into throwing. After all, the only way I get through dark and drab winters is by having events to look forward to, to separate monthly chunks of time till Spring (which in Seattle, hasn’t come lately till June or July).
I’m thinking I want to throw a “snazzy” holiday party. Pretty low-key, but with cocktail attire (dressing up is so much fun), h’ors douvres, (spelling that word is always bizarre) and WINE (drunk bus, drunk bus, here I come)!
A Seattle socialite friend of mine throws a wine party a couple times a year where everyone brings a bottle of wine. The host or hostess (Read: me), wraps the bottle in duck tape, marks it with a number and keeps track of each guest’s wine number. Then each guest gets two stickers, “Winner” and “Loser.” After tasting all the wines you can, you ask everyone to mark their wines at some point in the night, and then the Loser and Winner receive a prize accordingly. I think it sounds fantastic, since most of my friends are wine lovers…I just can’t decide if it’d be too much work, or what the winning and losing prizes should be. (Suggestions welcome).
And then, I think I’ll throw a “Bush is Out of Office” party – or at least host one at a bar somewhere, in addition to a Valloween party I’m planning with the Bestie, Amanda. My coworker taught me this one–a friend of hers threw a costume party on Valentines Day, to combine his least and most favorite holidays. Um, genius! I’m totally copying and stealing the idea. So, Amanda and I are planning to co-host a Valloween Party. Start telling your significant others now about the projected lovers day plans, or lack there of.
What’s the best theme party you’ve ever been to? (Paolo, I love the game show idea).
Currently Feeling: Bound and determined to feel caught up today.
Currently Anticipating: FINDING my effing CAR key.
Currently Wanting: To join another book club again. I think Winter makes me even increasingly snugly and warm toward books.
I’m a freakin’ blubbering baby
SO many things are making me tear up today.
From Pretty in the City:
From Sweats in the City:
From Metroblogging Seattle (my old stomping grounds):
Pretty good, is right. The comments in my Facebook and Twitter accounts keep giving me tingles…
“[Anonymous] is speechless. there are not words profound enough to explain what it feels like to finally be proud of this country.”[Anonymous] is (for the first time) proud to be an American.
[Anonymous] is not afraid to admit he’s feeling just a little bit inspired by and proud of his country today.
I am, since backpacking through 13 European countries and learning about our country through the eyes of the world, also proud for the first time in a long time. The bottom line is that our country was a whole lot better eight years ago, before the Bush administration, and it will hopefully be repaired in another four to eight years. (It’s about OPTIMISM not PESSIMISM). For a lot of people, Obama makes us feel optimistic.
Last night was amazing. I can’t tell you how freakin’ proud I am to be part of this election, proud to do my part to vote Obama into office and share the love with my fellow Americans who all believe in and WANT a better country and a better future.
I will, without a doubt, remember it 20 years from now.
(And that’s the last I’ll say about it, for all of you who are burnt out. 
