- I’m seriously thinking about buying a foreclosure home. Not now (maybe in a few years) but I’m researching FHA loans and the entire process. It’s a serious long-term goal I’m setting for myself. It’s too far off for the bf to panic but my parents are being super supportive. Considering my mom was a real estate agent & FHA inspector and my father owns a construction company, I have access to tools, discounted supplies, advice and help. We’re a land investment type of family. I’ve stepped up my game on saving up for a down payment. I’m getting my ducks in a row all Suze Orman style over here! Whether we’d like to live in the home or flip it after some fixing up, this will all be based on situation, location and the state of the property (and the economy) upon purchase. At this point, it’s all about patience, saving up and research. Scary exciting stuff!
- I finally went to the South of the James Farmer’s Market. I am in love with that place and so glad it’s going on until December 4th! I bought grass-fed beef from a local farmer for cheaper than at the grocery store. (It comes frozen and sealed so you can make it back home safely.) We bought beautiful heirloom cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, blackberries, and had tacos and breakfast burritos. I’m getting flowers, bread and more next time! Perfect way to throw together a special weekend dinner and get yourself out of the house on a Saturday morning. Here’s a Flickr pool of Richmond farmer’s market photos.
- This particular comic is wonderful! It compares Orwell and Huxley’s fears for our future. Yeah, we’re screwed.
- For all you suckers out there (I’m one of them), aren’t these lipsticks adorable? Of course, after a few uses, they’ve lost their charm but good grief! So cute! $25 each here. (via and all over the web now because us suckers for cute… we are legion)
- Oh hey! Did you notice I changed the look of my + & – posts? No big deal but I think it’s simple and cute!
- This post from DI$COUNT about what luxury is to them… yes.
- This entry from Postcards from Yo Mamma. Seriously, why? It happens to me all the time.
- The bf went out of town two weekends ago. While he was gone, I picked up a box of his favorite chocolates. He brought me back French tarts from a bakery we love in Maryland. This is why I have my next entry in the minuses…
- I don’t own a scale and judge my weight by my jeans. There’s no denying they’ve been a bit snug lately but the cold hard truth hurts. I went to the doctor 2 weeks ago and got weighed. I’m back to the most I ever weighed, about 2 years ago- 128lbs. Two years ago it was sitting on my ass drinking beer. This time, I barely drink, and it’s from sitting on my ass and bad food choices. This may not be a big deal to some of you but it’s kind of a big deal to me. I like the way I feel and look when I’m around 120. My body does not like this extra weight. My skin changes. I physically feel like yuck. I’m only 5’1″ and it means that if I don’t reign it in, I have to buy new clothes and I am NOT buying a new wardrobe because of laziness and shoving cheese in my face. Things have gotten real around here in the food department. It’s salad time but, I hate the gym. Hate it. I would rather all that sweat and effort have some instant results so, hard labor is more my style. Yard work, psychotic cleaning, etc. It’s on.
- We had a big rainstorm on Thursday and on the sofa, while I was being a dork on my laptop and the bf was being a dork on his Xbox, we heard a loud pop. The bf saw a flash of light and the TV cut off then back on. We sat stunned for a second wtf-ing a lot and then ran to check it out. Water. From the ceiling. Leaking. On the 50″ plasma TV the bf bought himself after his tax refund. His baby. Fuck. It’s still working but of course something has been fried. How crucial? No clue. Thank god for renter’s insurance. I’m gonna make a call on Monday and see what we need to do. Oh, and the landlord needs to fix that leak.
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- One of the coolest handmade gifts I’ve ever seen: Anabela from the blog Feildguided is starting a new feature of people’s homes called “Homebodies” and was allowed to take pics of Melinda Josie’s adorable home. Josie is the creator of this great kitty buds fabric (in addition to many other wonderful things). Anyhow, her fiance carved this as a Christmas present for her. It’s Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird in her ham costume. Amazing.
- Today, I had a lady day with my dear bff Jen (have you checked out her new food blog yet?). I had a half day at work and met her in Carytown after she got her wig smoked. We ate a great lunch at Can Can, talked and talked, and then wandered around checking out a ton of shops we had never been to. We went to Roan. Holy hell! I didn’t know those brands were sold in Carytown! I pawed Lanvin, Chloe, Jason Wu, Alexander Wang (still not impressed), Oscar de la Renta, Givenchy, Jil Sander… all in all, we were dying in there.
sigh, Louboutin
At Need, Jen did her own version of Man Repeller in this sweet union suit.
I also spotted this Miu Miu knockoff. No bueno.
At Pink, I was sooo tempted to get this bag. I’m still thinking about it. A cross-body bag would be nice. We finished up with margaritas at Nacho Mama’s and called it a day. Phew! I’m worn out!
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- I get the whole #firstworldproblem hashtag on twitter. Really I do. People like to complain so it’s a way of acknowledging that your bitching is really whining when there are so many bigger problems out there, but you’re going to whine anyways. (Example: “Why do I always manage to get the shopping cart with the bum wheel? #firstworldproblem”) These tweets get on my nerves like no other. Really? Are we starting to feel that damn guilty for the lives we lead? Feeling guilt for the only life we’ve ever known? No matter how many sad things you see in the news, you will never truly know how people in third world countries feel. Do all of them want to be like us? No. Get over yourself, and if you really want to make a difference, donate to a charity and move on.
- I am half Serbian and I am so ashamed and disgusted with a new movie that has come out called Srpski Film (A Serbian Film). Here is a review by one of my most adored bloggers. I am so incredibly sick and tired of “art” being an excuse for depravity. Political statements can be made in so many ways other than this.
- Everything I’ve added to wish lists or bookmarked for further contemplation ends up being sold out before I decide to purchase. Either it’s a sign that I need to quit shopping or I need to make up my mind faster.
- No way in hell.
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- The 7th of every month is the bf’s and my day to remind one another of how awesome it is that we met! Today marks 1 year 8 months together. xoxo
- Pictures from Africa’s Fashion Week in South Africa. I love the 3rd picture.
- This is for my friend Jen. We’ve known one another since 8th grade. She just started a food blog and I’m super excited for her. I was going to do a big post to introduce her blog and scan a ton of old embarassing pics of her but I think she’d much rather I just tell you to check out her cooking adventures and add it to your reader. She’s hilarious and a damn fine cook!
Who does this remind you of Jen?
- I love stationary and silly stupid me wants some mini MOO cards for the blog. I don’t have a logo so I’m using one of their Ready Made designs by artists. I’m digging this set with 36 different designs.
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- This guy is the epitome of a creep… the type of person that chills my bones.
- A ton of pictures of the same damn thing on blog posts – this goes for design and fashion. I don’t need to see that lamp from every damn angle. I don’t need to see that outfit in a 10 different poses. One full length and a few detail shots are plenty. I get it.
- I keep adding things to online wishlists to think about. Everything sells out before I’m ready to buy it.
- So, a few doors down from me, there’s a huge house with a huge family who runs their own business. They also have dogs and a poor little cat who has gotten lost in the shuffle. (This I found out from my neighbors across the street because I’m incredibly nosy.) I discovered “City Kitty” months ago, roaming the streets at night. She had tags, which I assumed were for the cat getting lost, because I sure as hell would want someone to call me if they found my cats dodging cars. I called both numbers on her tags repeatedly and no one answered. My bf was getting annoyed with me so, I let it go. Well, City Kitty kept coming around my front steps. She’s so scrawny you can feel each individual vertebra and ribs. I have been feeding her and so has our nice neighbor upstairs. I finally got sick of it one day and left a passive-aggressive note to end all notes for the owner expressing my concern that she may have worms and needs to see a vet. It’s been over a month and the cat is still a sack of bones. I talked to my vet yesterday and I have 4 options: 1 – bring the cat in and pay for it all myself then take the owners to small claims court and I will probably win but maybe not. 2 - call animal control and get the owners in trouble. The cat runs a risk of being taken away and being put down. 3 - have a face-to-face with the owners which will probably get ugly because I have a big mouth when I’m pissed off and this whole thing is really burning my ass. 4 – mind my own damn business. Now I need to take my own cat to the vet and get him vaccinated for everything under the sun, well beyond what an indoor cat needs, because City Kitty could not only have worms but feline AIDS, leukemia, distemper, and god knows what else that I could track into the apartment. What would you do?
I was such a sourpuss last time – only plusses this week!
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- Weekend before last, we roasted ourselves in 90 degree heat and battled the hills of Maymont Park. While I think we were near death, it was pretty.
- I love open-toed ankle booties but, this is so right on:
- I love it when the checkout lady gives you a deeper discount by accident and doesn’t correct it!! I have been searching high and low for decent yet inexpensive frames for my pie cat and Tara prints. The least expensive (and horribly rated) frame for pie cat was going to run me $40 on Amazon. I just couldn’t do it. So the prints have sat in their mailing tubes in my hallway waiting for a bargain and it broke my heart. Yesterday, I scored BIG TIME! I went to Ben Franklin to get some tiny thing to redo on the necklaces I had made that I was dissatisfied with and found a corner stash of frames at 60% off! The lady messed up and didn’t even correct it when I was honest (because 60% off was kick ass enough as it was). I got a $38 and $28 frame both for $16!!!!! Here are my crappy phone pics:
Pie cat in my kitchen!!!
Tara in the bedroom! I received #476 out of 500 signed prints! Barely got it!
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This set of two eyeshadow brushes are the best I have yet to find for a smokey eye and they’re dirt cheap. The smaller brush deposits a concentrated amount of color (great for the lash line) and the larger is good for your crease and blending.
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This past weekend, the bf had to go visit his family in Northern VA for the annual festival in his parents’ town. His sister and fiance and son were coming all the way down from Jersey as well. It’s a pretty big deal for his family and I wasn’t going to go. I needed to take my friend out for a very belated b-day dinner and I wanted some girl time. I was also planning to go to
Broad Appetit and meet some Richmond blogger chicks. Well, I got the guilt trip from the bf’s sister, who I really
really like and have only met once in over 1.5 years. I had to do the right thing and go to nova. I ended up having a blast! I ate waaaay too much terrible food, had wonderful conversations, helped with gardening and drank a wee bit! The bf’s mom even refered to me as her daughter-in-law. Too cute! It was a lovely weekend.
here’s the bf and I looking creepy at dusk
delicious meat on a stick!
- How cute is this anchor necklace? It comes in both gold and silver finishes and it’s less than $6!
There will be no plusses this time around. I’m in a mood.
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- Sex and the City 2. I do not care. As soon as Carrie took back Big after making a complete ass of her at the wedding in the first movie, I was done. Actually, I was pretty disgusted with her character the entire series for always taking him back. Low self-esteem? He was not that charming. The only one I ever really liked was Samantha. The woman had balls but seriously, has anyone ever done a tally of how many men they slept with? Hold on. Let me Google this. Ahhh, about 94 between the 4 of them.
- The BP oil spill. Between rig inspectors on meth, inspectors of the actual part that broke not doing their job, Halliburton being involved, all the political back-scratching that goes on with big oil, the Coast Guard not doing their job, the Army Corps of Engineers not issuing permits or doing their job, BP openly defying the EPA, the finger-pointing, the loss of sea life, the loss of income for fishermen, the incomprehensible amount of destruction and pollution, the inaction of our president… I am at a loss for words.
- Everyone getting so damned upset over Arizona’s immigration law. Once again, my political opinions will probably piss some of you off but honestly, I couldn’t give two shits. First off, I am the daughter of a legal immigrant. I am all for legal immigration. What a lot of people don’t know is that the U.S. allows more legal immigrants here than every other country combined. Things got a bit tighter after 9-11, as they should, but if you go through the proper process you’re welcome here, to get screwed by the government like everyone else. In fact, Mexico’s citizenship process is more strict than that of the U.S. We live in a country where states are afforded their own laws. Arizona (and the rest of the country) is in the midst of an illegal immigration crisis. Our budgets, job supply, and resources are getting sucked dry by people who don’t contribute to the tax base and are here illegally! Hello! What part of illegal does no one seem to understand? Is Arizona law enforcement not allowed to address an issue of legality (only with probably cause) when federal agents can walk up to anyone (w/out probable cause) and ask for papers no questions asked? The federal government has been sitting on their asses about taking any action against the flood of illegals in this country because they don’t want to lose the Hispanic vote. I congratulate AZ for doing something the rest of the country has been unwilling to address… asking for goddamn proof of citizenship in the middle of a crisis and actually doing something about it.
- Losing your health insurance. I have had to make a ton of calls figuring out who sells my prescriptions for the cheapest amount (found them), calling my doctors (who I love) to see if they will still see me with a cash payment (they will), seeing if they can prescribe me generic versions (they can for one), seeing if cheaper options like Planned Parenthood carry my BC pills (they don’t), and researching other plans like health savings accounts. This is ridiculous.
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