quoth the raven

Today it was absolutely GORGEOUS out. Mid-70s, sunny, breezy. No humidity to speak of, really. I love this weather. The weatherman says it is supposed to stay this way all through next week. I really hope he is right!

I've been toying with the idea of dying my hair. Since the color on top faded into a brassy red. (This is why I stopped loving red. I simply can't afford to keep it up.) Since the color underneath is a dark brown, almost black, I was considering trying out black. But I was scared to go with permanent dye. So I tried some semi-permanent Manic Panic dye today in Raven. It turned out nice! Now I just have to see how quickly it washes out/fades. Hoping it lasts through Sunday! If not, I have another jar and hopefully can convince my sister to touch it up for me. ;P

thank you AOL radio

I used to think a couple of the local rock stations were absolutely awesome because they had a segment at night that they called "Mandatory Metallica" where they played five or six Metallica songs back to back. (One also used to have a "Mandatory Maynard" segment where they did the same thing with Tool songs.)

But AOL Radio takes the cake. They have an All Metallica All the Time channel. Absolutely genius.

Thank you, AOL Radio. Thank you.

adventures with falsies!

I've been contemplating makeup possibilities for the concert. I mean, when I "dress up" I really like to coordinate things. Oh who am I kidding... you all know me well enough that I LOVE to coordinate even when I'm not dressing up. But special occasions (especially ones so far in advance) allow me the opportunity to experiment and play. Mostly I've been playing with grays with hints of black. But it just hasn't seemed...sharp enough for a heavy metal concert. Even the smokey look seems a bit too tame (if you can believe that). So I decided to throw my inhibition to the wind and experiment with dark, heavy grays and black liner. Also, since dark colors on my lids tend to mask the fact that I actually do have eyelashes, I am going to try out some falsies. Heh.

Tonight I came up with this kind of on a whim. It looks okay, I guess. Definitely closer to what I'm aiming for.



I really dig the false eyelashes. I didn't actually apply them with glue yet, but they fit my eyes perfectly and didn't feel strange at all. If these work out, I think I might try some with glitter.

Tomorrow I am going to try this look:



I really like how she went "outside the box" and put dark in the corners of her eyes and left the middle of her lid neutral. We'll see how I do.

(And just so I don't look like a thief, I found the tutorial here. She is speaking German, though. Too bad I didn't, you know, learn more German while I was living in Germany for 11 years. Oh the shame!)

oh yeah!

Pardon me while I [snoopy dance] the day away!



w00t w00t!

pumpkin spice and everything nice...

Since The Monkey started working full time + frequent overtime, I sort of relish our weekend time together. (Last weekend was nothing short of bliss with the three days and all that.) Unfortunately, my love of our weekend time together has led me to be a bit of a homebody. Last weekend I spent an entire DAY doing nothing. We were lazy all day long. I didn't even shower. :P

This weekend was sort of the opposite. Yesterday I woke up with an urge to go to D-Town. Mostly because I had a serious hankering for a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks.

I am sort of on a mission to find something cute yet comfortable, punk rocker yet chick to wear to the concert. (I already know what The Monkey is going to wear -- jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers. Men have it SO easy.) In my head, I had this ultimate outfit pictured. Blacks and dark grays. Maybe some red. Dark wash, distressed jeans. Black (comfortable) boots. I've been pretty set on a t-shirt and hoodie type deal as per the recommendation of the Internets. (People insist that Philips Arena stays rather chilly even when jam packed with people because it is, ultimately, a hockey arena so there is a big hunk of ice under the stage.) So I thought a shopping trip would lend an idea or two.

No such luck. I searched the Mall, Target, Lane Bryant... nothing jumped out at me. I really loved this hoodie I saw at Kohl's but it only went up to an XL and it wouldn't zip around my big gut and huge-mongous boobs. [grumble] I also found an awesome ...And Justice For All t-shirt at Hot Topic that The Monkey would've LOVED but there was NO way I was going to pay $17 + tax for a t-shirt. (Especially not when the hoodie was only $30.) We wound up stopping in Ulta because my sister and I cannot go to D-Town and NOT stop in Ulta. We mostly browsed. I did come across a display of nail polish that boasted "Paint and Peel". I was curious so I picked up the black and brushed a few strokes onto my thumb nail. Surprisingly enough, it was very pretty. Especially for black nail polish. I showed my sister and she agreed that it was, indeed, pretty. After it dried, I tried the "peel" aspect out. It really works! The polish came off in one piece. So, I bought it. :P When we got home I immediately went to manicuring my nails. I don't really bite them but they do have a tendency to split and crack. So I filed them down all nice and neat. I massaged my cuticles and pushed them down. And then I painted. I added an "embellishment" with a red Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen (just some red X's, nothing fancy). I must say they turned out pretty cool. I even got a compliment from the sales clerk in Maurice's. :)

Even though the shopping trip was fruitless, we still had fun just wandering around. My sister picked up some really cute pajamas for Madsion. And I cured my craving for a Pumpkin Spice Latte. The only bad that came from the trip was the five inch crack in my windshield. UGH. On our way there we heard a rock hit it. We didn't see anything so I hoped I got off lucky. Not so much, as it turns out. :(

Today I went to Maurice's with very little hope of finding what I was looking for. But, lo and behold, I found THE outfit. Hooray! The top was 50% off plus an additional 40% off. I bought a couple pieces of [costume] jewelry. (I won't be wearing anything that is valuable to the concert. If I'll be devastated by losing it, it's staying at home.) Overall I think the outfit is super cute. I already have the makeup look in mind (a smokey look with light gray accented with darker grays and black).



Maybe I put too much thought into the whole "what to wear" thing. I can't help it. I mean, if I were going out for dinner or to a club or a bar I'd be doing the same thing. We don't go out much and I don't really "dress up" much. So I'm kind of just having fun with it. :P

It is going to be a really, really LONG three weeks.

living in the moment

I have a bad, bad tendency to live my life in moments. Not little, insignifcant moments but BIG and potentially life altering moments. Everything in between becomes dismissable. Which is a shame because life isn't always about the BIG moments.

I think this is why I don't write as much anymore. I don't really have anything to say unless something exciting is going on. And even then I find it difficult to write because I get so caught up that I sort of get lost for words.

The holidays are coming up. I am sad to think that we may truly have to hide under a rock. Or run away. So people don't buy us gifts and we aren't expected to buy anyone else gifts. Last year we didn't have the money but we had the credit and that is what we used. But as it stands, every single solitary credit card we have is maxed out. Or nearly maxed out. It's a very uncomfortable feeling. I miss the days when I was absolutely TERRIFIED of credit cards. I miss the days where I was totally and completely 100% debt free. Now I'm barely treading water with the credit cards. And my six month grace period on my student loans ends this month. Now I have to do a mad dash to call everyone and convince them that I am unable to pay my loans at this time and request a deferrment. Honestly, that's not the part that scares me. The part that scares me is the amount of interest $60,000 can accrue in a mere year's time. It almost makes me want to feign death. Does the government forgive student loan debt after you die? I am happy to say, however, that as of February 2010, we OWN two cars. Two cars that have been very reliable over the past five years. Let's hope they STAY that way.

I'm still finding it a bit hard to believe that another year is nearly over. I keep thinking of a former coworker that always used to tell me the older you get the quicker time seems to pass. I find that it becomes truer with every passing year. The Monkey and I are watching the kids for my sister this evening. They went to visit my sister's best friend in Georgia. (The family was there for a funeral and it's basically "right around the corner" so she went to show support.) Madison is growing up so quickly. It was getting close to her bedtime. She gave me a fit about putting clothes on (she, uh...likes being naked) but once she was in her jammies (which I tried to hype up as much as possible since they were new big girl jammies) she was fine. I sat with her in the glider and started scrolling through all the pictures on my phone. I have quite a few of my sister on there and every time we came to one I said "Who's that?" and she'd grin really big and say "Dada!" I couldn't help but laugh and say "No, that's MomMom." Then we'd come across a picture of me and she'd say "Oh! MomMom!" Once again, laughter and then correction. (She also called a picture of her Aunt Desirée 'MomMom' too.) I also have quite a few pictures of her in there. I came across one I took when I first got my phone (in late January) and was kind of amazed how much she's changed. And my GOSH how much hair she's gotten! I looked at a picture of her when she was about six months old she was SO bald. And she pretty much stayed that way until she was well over a year. But now.. it seems her hair is growing like wild fire. I kept brushing it out of her eyes to no avail. She needs a "pretties" in her hair to keep it out of her face but it's quite a feat getting her to keep any kind of bow, barette, or rubberband in her hair. She is cute as a button, though. We still can't decide what color her eyes are. They are definitely NOT the crystal-clear blue that my nephews and niece all have. But they are not the distinct green that my sister has, either. I think she's going to have eyes like mine. The kind that change color. All of my identification has 'blue' as my eye color but anyone that looks me in the eye will tell me they are more green. Ever since my sister found out she was pregnant with my oldest nephew I wanted her to have a green-eyed little girl. Maybe she finally does.

I've been on birth control for nearly two months now. I can't say I'm loving it. Having PCOS means my body chemistry is bass ackwards. The majority of women gain weight on the pill -- I've always lost weight. But not so much this time around. I'd like to go back on Yasmin but all of the FDA warnings and the class action suits have me scared. I'd prefer not to have a heart attack or stroke or DVT, thanks very much. But man this birth control pill is horrendous. I seem to be retaining a tremendous amount of water. I've gained about eight pounds. (Okay, some of that can easily be attributed to my less-than-desirable eating habits while in Pennsylvania, but come on already!) But I think the worst part of it has been the headaches and the incessantly aching BOOBS. I have never experienced this sort of soreness in the twins. EVER. They hurt so much that I sometimes flinch when The Monkey...uh...goes to play with them. :P It's ridiculous. The one good thing I have to say is my skin. Oh MAN does my skin look fabulous! I still have the stray pimple here and there (in fact, I'm nursing one on my chin at the moment) but the horrendous breakouts that I was having are a non-issue since I started taking the pill. It didn't even take a full pack to see the positive effects! So I'm kind of on the fence about the whole thing. I'm supposed to go back and see my RE to have all my levels rechecked and such. I think I'll talk to the nurse about a different type or brand.

I've taken a recent interest in serious cooking. I've been experimenting with a few of Alton Brown's recipes. I'm planning on trying out his Carrot Cake recipe for The Monkey's birthday cake. (Did you know that Carrot Cake is really more of a muffin than a cake? If not, now you do, and you should totally feel compelled to now have a slice of Carrot Cake for breakfast completely and totally guilt free.) Speaking of Pumpkin... oh... wait. Well, whatever. I'm craving a Pumpkin Spice Latte like crazy! I could get my "fix" right here at home if International Delights and Coffeemate would hurry up and flood the stores with the holiday creamers! Mmm... Gingerbread and Pumpkin Pie.

I feel a little better now. Having put some words to "paper" and have them actually make some sort of sense. And have them be about the more mundane aspects of my life rather than the BIG moments. One of these days I will take the time to resize and upload all of my pictures from our trip to Pennsylvania. I have a lovely one of my mom, dad, stepmom, brothers, sisters, and me together for the first time that I really need to post. But part of me feels obligated to explain why that picture is so incredibly special. I hardly speak of my childhood -- mostly because I don't remember much -- but at the very least I feel the need to explain how my family wound up the way it is.

The next "BIG MOMENT" in my life is the Metallica concert. I've never actually been to a concert. (Well, okay, I'll fess up to having been to a New Kids on the Block concert at age 10. Hey, it was sponsored by our church congregation. This is one of the funny things about my memory. I have almost no recollection of the concert itself. The one thing I do remember is when the pastor asked me in front of the entire church congregation what my favorite band was I instictively replied "New Kids on the Block" even though, at the time, my favorite band had to be Guns -N- Roses. Heh. Once a rocker, always a rocker, I guess.) The Metallica concert has me filled the brim with excitement. I've even had a few dreams about it. One I refuse to go into detail about because...er...it might make my husband jealous. And I would hate to see him have a change of heart about his favorite band of all time. The most recent was last night. I fell asleep listening to my iPod -- Metallica, of course -- and it lead to a dream about the actual concert. But just as it started to get good (I was making my way towards the stage) I was somehow back at home on the couch. And The Monkey walked in the door and started talking to me and all I could hear was LOUD music playing. Silly me...suddenly I remembered my earbuds and removed them. But I still couldn't hear what The Monkey was saying! I immediately started crying and panicking over losing my hearing because of a rock concert. Then I woke up. To loud music playing in my ears (No Leaf Clover). I pulled my actual earbuds out of my ears and was relieved that I could still hear. Oddly enough, The Monkey walked in the door right at that time, practically mirroring my dream. [Cue theme to The Twilight Zone]

Buying concert tickets is no easy task. Or, it wasn't for me. Why didn't anyone warn me about Service Fees?? I got all excited over a pair of tickets that were going to cost us $200 for damn good seats only to find out after I went to purchase them that with Service Fees and shipping it was going to cost $300. Eh. I wound up getting some really excellent seats (which I believe I posted about previously). Second [seated] row. Definitely not too shabby. Finding a hotel wasn't much easier. I was agonizing over a cheap hotel and driving to the arena and paying for parking or getting a hotel close to a MARTA stop so we'd only have to pay $8.00 for transportation to and from the arena. Ultimately, the fact that I am a big fat wussy made the decision for me. I booked a hotel near Hartfield Airport. It was relatively inexpensive. We won't have to venture into the city of Atlanta until we absolutely have to. It had excellent customer ratings. And it's only 12ish miles from Philips Arena. (After doing some reading, I decided that I did NOT want to be on public transit at 1:00 AM basically broadcasting TOURIST to every passerby. Especially since we wouldn't be able to carry anything defensive like mace. They don't allow those sorts of things in the concert venue.) I also wasn't keen on either walking to/from the hotel to/from the nearest MARTA station OR parking my car at the free lot at a MARTA station where it would be, for many hours, unattended and quite vulnerable. It would be my luck that some asshole would try to break in it or something. I hate the thought of the $20 parking fee for the garage at CNN Center but I guess it's a small price to pay for peace of mind.

And now that all of the important major details are in order, I can worry about the silly stuff. Like what to wear and how to do my makeup. And whether I or not I want to bring my camera (on which I have NOT mastered the night setting) or borrow my mom's or sister's. And if I do decide to borrow, will I need to look at possibly purchasing an extra memory card. (I would like to take a video clip or two.) Decisions, decisions. Right now the, uh, wardrobe and makeup are taking precedence. I know for sure it's going to be a 'jeans and t-shirt' kind of thing but my problem is what jeans and what shirt. But hey, I have three weeks to think about it, right?

it's official...

After three "gruelling" days of scouring the Internets, we finally settled on a pair of tickets for Metallica! We'll be in the SECOND ROW!! (Since we decided to go to the Atlanta show instead of the Tampa show, we got to spend a little more on tickets since we're saving money in gas/hotel.)

I am super excited! Going out of my mind, even! Only three weeks, three days to go! The Monkey's birthday is on the 26th. I'm planning on baking a carrot cake. Either that or German Chocolate cake. Because he's quite fond of both.

And, for your viewing pleasure... here is a look at what our seats for the concert will be like! We'll be in the row with the red Xs. Did I mention that I was EXCITED!?!