Netflix Neurosis

I really have a problem. Does this happen to anyone else? I wouldn't really consider myself a movie buff. I like them, sure, but music/concerts/playing instruments is really more up my alley. Then I signed up for Netflix. With a queue at 130+ movies and growing, I'm never going to catch up! I'm headed towards a lifetime subscribership.

I've become quite particular as to my movie-viewing schedule. I'm very well aware that I need to get movies sent in on Thursday morning so I have a new one (or two or three) for the weekend. They don't mail new ones on Saturday, so those mailed on Friday sit until Monday. I usually try and watch 1-2 early in the week so I get them out by Thursday and the crop stays fresh.

I was exhausted last night after a long day at work and had to get up early today for tutoring, but I just had to watch one. The long weekend messed up the normal schedule. Thankfully I had a foreign film that I watched on speed 2x – works perfectly! Cut the time in half, I could still hear the music playing quickly and had plenty of time to read the subtitles. Is that wack? Or does anyone else do this?

Flying By....

Since Caro sold her car, we're now resigned to taking the metro to church. That's hard for us, seeing that we can't get out the door on time when we're driving, and now we have to leave extra early. You'd think we'd be able to get outta bed by 9:30, since we're up way before that during the week. Niki's usually the slow one, but this morning she was the one waking me up, telling me to hurry.

Church was good. Wasn't in a social mood really, and all the interns on the metro make me less inclined to want to talk to people. Whatev. I survived. Sucks that it was already 3pm when we got home - day already gone! We made lunch, I made the best cookies ever, and we watched a chick flick. Not a bad afternoon, even though I didn't get a nap.

It's now too early to go to bed, but I have nothing else to do but work. Yes, work for work's sake on a holiday weekend. I'm overwhelmed at the moment. Sigh. What to do, what to do.....

Public Transportation Observations....

This week I was on a bus headed somewhere, when a teenage boy sat next to me. This young chap seemed to go for the tough look. Lots of black, greasy hair, no smiles, I dunno what else. I was reading my book, minding my own business when I heard a familiar song blarring from his headphones. What's that? Could it be? YES.

Lady in Red.

But not just any Lady in Red. The Spanglish version. No freaking way. Where can I get my copy?!

Got off the metro at Ft. Totten the other day and saw a guy with a WB shirt on, you know, with the logo from the television station company. It said "See a Cop? Warn a Brother." I laughed.

Scatterbrained Saturday of Shopping and Shakespeare

Boy, that title's a mouthful. Onward!

Last night hotel 314 was near capacity, though Caro graciously gave up her bed via text message for a guest. The two J's were over, needing a place to crash temporarily. J1 is on a mission to find a place in DC, now that he's started working downtown. He's currently living in Frederick, so the whole 4 hours a day on a train thing really isn't working. Time for him to come play in the city! I'm glad to have a good friend back from abroad that I can hang out with reguarly. J2 is between leases, so he's crashing our place for a few days. Hope he doesn't stumble in too drunk too late tonight, as he doesn't yet have the spare keys. I'm trying to stay awake til that happens, but we'll see.

We didn't actually end up looking at any apartments today for J1, but whatev. The one place he wanted to see has all sorts of bad reviews online, so I advised him just to skip it. We decided to head to Georgetown to enjoy the weather. Too nice to stay inside, and nothing else to do. That darn Circulator bus makes it too easy to get there and spend $, which is precisely what I ended up doing!

Took me about 15 minutes to actually get out the door this morning. I swear Niki's rubbing off on me. I thought I was ready when I hit the door. Wait, I need an umbrella. Ran upstairs to get it. Back down. Need a jacket. Up. Down. Windy - my skirt blows up - change clothes. Back to the door, left keys somewhere. Searched for a few minutes, found them back upstairs. Finally made it out. I'm sure there were a few more trips up and down. Lost my mind today a bit.

We hit Gtown Park Mall for an ATM and a couple cookies, opting to walk through JCrew to get back to the street. Uh, bad idea. I walked out with 2 tanks and a polo. What happened to my shopping budget?

Mexx is fast turning into my favorite store. Awesome sales, if you're patient. This weekend all the sales stuff was marked down another 25%, so what did I do? Took about 20 items into the dressing room. Only came out with 5, all super cute stuff and in colors I don't normally buy - aqua and white. And an amazing brown skirt. Yay for sales! I'm excited to wear them. I used to "save" my new clothes, keeping them in the closet for a few weeks before their debut. Times have changed - tomorrow will display a couple new purchases.

I hope I got some sun today. We chilled at Dean and Deluca, sipping our sodas and soaking rays before heading home. Afternoons like that are near perfect. Now if only the tan will show up....

Tonight a small group of friends went to the Shakespeare Free for All at the Carter Barron ampitheatre in Rock Creek Park. Lovely setting, free theatre, weird story, a tad long, but good and fun. Pirates and brothels, people coming back from the dead, what else do you need in a play?

!!!

Niki and I are watching a sugar glider for 3 weeks!! A few hours ago I didn't know what they were, but we have one!! In our house!! And it climbs on us and jumps!! And it's way cute and eats almonds and apples!!

Our friend AF is going to Africa tomorrow for 3 weeks to volunteer at an orphanage. She was over for dinner tonight and talked about her little pet. After 15 minutes of figuring out what it is, Niki volunteered to babysit while she's gone. And voila! We have it. Can't wait to play with it! Should be a fun few weeks....if you wanna come see it, let me know! It's friendly. And loves to be held close. And likes to crawl on your shirt. And jump from things. And sleep in a sock. Yay! I'll take picture of Izzy soon.

Hello, World

Where has the blogging energy gone? To the moon or something....

Anyway - weekend update. B and I made an valient attempt to see the DaVinci Code on Friday night, like the rest of the world. However, unlike the rest of the world, we didn't buy tix online, opting to show up and see what was available. Got to the theatre at 7, next available showing, 11:45. Uh, no thanks. We grabbed dinner at my fav Thai place in Gtown, hashed out more of "our relationship/friendship" issues. I thought we got somewhere, until it started all over again 24 hours later. When do you throw in the towel? We have issues. We will always have issues. We are on different spheres of existance 95% of the time, and have never been able to figure out how to get on the same page. When I think we're on the same planet, one of us is probably faking it for the sake of simplicity and harmony. So yeah....the friendship saga continues, but I'm determined to hang in there.

I was finally able to sleep in a bit on Saturday. No volunteer stuff this weekend. I had hoped to finally clean my room and put away the 4 loads of laundry I did last week, but nope. Instead I met up with Caro and 2 friends downtown at H&M for some quality shopping time. Well, I went there to return stuff from my spree the week before, but had the wrong receipt. Drat.

In the afternoon the roommates and I + a roommate's sibling + a friend went to the Greek festival at the Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral. I've intended to go every year, but this was the first time I actually made it. BEST lamb gyro I've ever had. Smothered in tzatziki sauce and feta cheese. Delish. The live band made me want to dance and yell "Opa!" a bunch of times, but I restrained myself, seeing that I'm not Greek.... We toured the cathedral briefly - beautiful. If you haven't been in, go check it out. I'd love to attend one of their services sometime - it's so different from mine.

Sat night, metro'd down to Alexandria to meet up with EW, now EG, and her new hubby Todd. She's in town for the summer making MAJOR bank at a law firm. Is it time to rethink my career? Hmmm..... We hung out at her summer home then went to Robin's graduation party. Robin's always the perfect hostess with tons of yummy food, including homemade salsa, heavy on the cilantro. Just the way I like it.

Sunday held more graduation stuff - a handful of friends graduating from Gtown Med. Wow, is all I can say. I honestly don't see how anyone makes it through pre-med, 4 years of med school, then 4+ years of residency. That's dedication. Kudos to them. I did skip church for graduation, but I still heard an opening and closing prayer with some inspiring words in between. Made me think back to my graduation ceremonies, hard to believe it was 3 years ago. I love Georgetown. I'm glad I went there. I love tradition and being part of a school that's more than 200 years old. Not many places like that in America.

Jorge (a brave med school graduate) invited me to dinner with his parents on Sunday night, so we headed out to Annapolis to dine on some seafood. I went for the ribs, but hey, I like what I like. I was expecting a half rack of ribs, and gasped when I was served 2 full racks. SO much food. I gave about half of it away and still couldn't finish it. His parents are from Ecuador, and are absolutely lovely people. I'm glad I finally met them. Jorge and I have been friends for about 6 years now. I think he said I'm the oldest friend he has in DC at the moment. That's kinda cool. He's off to residency at UVA, so he'll still be close by.

Must sleep now.....ackk....

Today I Woke Up as a Blonde

No really, I kid you not. Yesterday I thought I could get used to it. Then I freaked out and called my mom to fix it. 8am - Happy Mother's Day, Mom, and uh, what do I do? I played with hair dye, and I lost.

I started Saturday well, running errands and such. Hit Dupont, Georgetown, Chinatown. As I descended into the drugstore that's weirdly placed in Bed, Bath and Beyond, I had no idea what I'd be up against. On occasion I play with my hair color, usually nothing too permanent and nothing too drastic. Since summer is coming I decided it was time to take a turn towards the warmer, rather than darker. Saw some "caramel" highlights designed specifically for brunettes. Perfect! I grabbed some other fun stuff too, confirming my love of drugstores. All the makeup possibilities! It's great fun.

When I got home, Caro helped me with the tedious, tiring task of pulling the perfect amount of hair through all those holes in the plastic cap. Finally finished, I mixed the special chemicals in the plastic tub for my gorgeous caramel that was to come.

With naturally dark hair, the instructions said to leave it on for 50-70 minutes until hair reaches a "pale yellow." I was supposed to let it pass through the bright yellow and gold stages before it reached the ideal pale color. After about 35 minutes, all I saw was straw yellow hair. Hmmm.....

I decided to rinse. Get out now. My hair looked and felt like straw. Ewh. I dried it. WAY drastic. Super light in the front and all over - not subtle at all. Despite my best efforts to limit the effects, it was everywhere.

K, maybe I can get used to it. Did it once before and it was pretty light, I actually liked it later. Caro said the back was perfectly colored and blended. Just the front was weird. I left it for the night and didn't think about it. After all, I'm not the one that has to look at it.

When I woke up today, I freaked. There was NO way I was going to get used to this. I did some online research, called my mom, and decided to go back to the natural color. I managed to make it through one hour of church (with the hair pulled up and outta sight), then I busted out and went straight to CVS for a remedy. Thank goodness for Nutmeg hair dye without ammonia. Did the trick perfectly and softened it up a bit. Whew! It's actually a tad darker now. What on earth was I thinking? Never again will I go lighter. I will embrace my brunette to the fullest from here on out!

Still Alive....Really...

Update coming sometime, just have to get in the mood. I still have to write about the great social experiment!

Just not now.....
Here's a random (and kinda crappy) pic to keep you company instead. From lovely PCH in Cali, about one year ago. Sigh. I need a beach.

Busy Lil' Beaver

Last week I participated in the following:

• Two black tie dinners
• Bowling
• Cleaning up a school in SE DC
• Pool hall
• Foreign films
• BBQ on a stoop in Logan Circle
• Martini lounge

I love being busy. However, I think this week I'm ready to take it easy. Seven nights going out in a row is a little rough on the sleep factor. Plus I gotta finish making the website for my parents' blueberry farm. K, actually Niki's making it, but I gotta pitch in. Sleep when you die, right?

Is It So Bad....

That I like the new Nickelback song, Savin' Me? Granted, I've only heard it 4 times. Well, I guess I've heard it a few hundred, since all their songs sound exactly the same. I know I'll be sick of it by the end of the week, but for now, I'm going to enjoy.