A Saturday night on the town

On Saturday night I went out in uptown. I guess I should explain a little about going out in downtown Dallas. There are several areas that I have heard of: lower Greenville, uptown, deep ellum, and downtown. All of these areas are in dallas and have a different type of clientele.

I was invited to go to uptown with some new friends on Saturday night. I felt like a dork asking my friend what I should wear but I knew that it was a little ritzier than I was used to. I decided on a new shirt that was plum colored and jeans. I knew I needed I wear heels so I grabbed my cute tan pumps and ran out the door. My friend said casual and I was a few degrees above casual to be safe.

I had no idea that casual meant I needed to wear a dress and rock big heels. I felt underdressed. I really hate that feeling. But at least now I know and I guess I have to start shopping for dresses so that I will have something to wear. I was unprepared for this change I figured that all bars were similar. What a joke. I think tomorrow I will share with you some of the awesome things I experienced with my new friends and I'll try so grab a pic of my new shirt that is pretty cute if I say so myself.

The opening ceremony

Tonight was the opening of the 2012 London Olympic games!!! I didn't get to see all of it due to a scheduling conflict. I always love seeing what the host country brings to the table and the parade of nations is always neat to watch. I am a huge sports junky so for the next 3 weeks I don't know that I will have much to say other than did you see this game or that sport or some match. I am just so excited about the games.

Here are a few things I am excited to see:
Swimming, Ryan Lochte in case you were wondering I am free
Gymnastics, it was always my dream to be a gymnast. So close yet so far
Soccer I just love everything about it
The flag raising part of the medals. Gets me every single time
The greatest moments of the day clips. You know the ones where the great highs and lows are shown and it just makes you glad to be a human. I can't wait even though they make me cry.
Beach volleyball fencing archery truly I will watch any sport but weightlifting

As you can tell I am very very excited about these games and I will probably be busy until they are over. But I just can't wait to chant USA USA USA even if it is just me and the dog.

Go team USA!!!

Early to bed

There are a few things that are rather joyous and one of them is getting in bed after a long day. However, I find myself falling into the trap that the important point of the timeframe is lights out not when my eyes close. I don't think it counts when I get in the bed and play games or tinker around on the Internet. I have yet to figure out how to account for the time that I am going to spend reading a few blogs and checking Facebook.

I will be the first to admit that a part of my evening routine is to read that days texts from last night submissions. I find great joy in reading about other peoples lives but sometimes I want to be able to just get into the bed and go to sleep. I have heard of people who leave their phones in a different room. That is never going to be me.

I am not sure how to deal with this mentality and the irony that I am typing this in my bed on my phone is not lost on me. I guess I am just wondering what do you go to bed at lights out or electronics out and does it matter? At the moment I think it should now be electronics off not lights out and on that note I think I will get a little closer to getting some sleep

Mr. Gecko

Mr. Gecko

Over the last few weeks I have been watching my little friend, Mr. Gecko. I found him one Saturday in my bathroom and at first I was petrified and then I realized I will survive and so will he. To be honest I couldn't catch him and didn't want to pull his tail off... that would have sucked. So I graciously allowed him to live and then I realized that he would eat spiders and I don't like spiders.

I have seen Mr. Gecko a few different times. I saw him once in the living room and I just let him live and wander around the room. This morning I was walking out of the bedroom on the way to get coffee and I almost stepped on him. It was all I could take to not scream but I knew that my grandfather was still sleeping and I didn't want to wake him because hearing your granddaughter scream about a super small lizard running around in the house.

I am looking forward to our next meeting but I think all I will be saying to him is keep up the good work... I haven't seen as many spiders running around my bathroom in recent weeks. But he seems to be doing well since he is more white/pink than he is in the photo. I will try and get another pic of him so you can see his cute little face.

To buy the off brand or not?

As with everyone here in America I am trying to find small ways to save a few dollars here and there. Some of my favorite ways to save a few are pretty normal: brown bag it to work, buy clothes on sale, buy what I need not what I want, and buy the off brand when you can. I am in a season where I am not quite living paycheck to paycheck but by no means am I living large. So I am trying to figure out how to save a few dollars where I can but knowing that I don't have to eat PB&J all the time is also a relief.

I have been doing much of my shopping at Target and Walmart. I find that many of the Target brand items are pretty comparable to the brand name but I try not to buy anything too crazy off brand items. For the most part I try to buy staples off brand and buy things I am going to eat alone or without significant manipulation the brand name.

The other day I went into Walmart to grab a few groceries. I go there mainly because they carry the creamer that I love. But I digress, I wanted to have some yogurt this week. As I stood in front of the dairy case I wondered to myself... hmmm what do I want. I decided to buy strawberry and peach. Now what brand... I typically only eat Yoplait light. I don't like anything else but as I stand there I wonder maybe if I buy the great value brand I can save myself 12 cents for a four pack. This seems that those 12 cents are going to make a real difference. So I toss a four pack of each into the basket and finish my shopping. I am sure I saved a little bit more than 24 cents but who knows.

Let's fast forward to lunch the next day, I get pretty excited for my peach yogurt. I am going to be honest and say that yogurt was very very orange and I only ate three bites. It was one of the most horrific things I have in a while, it was tart and orangey and gross. I realized that I tried to save 12 cents and now I spent money on nasty yogurt.

I think the main point of this is to remind you that sometimes it just isn't worth it to buy the off-brand you should just buy what you know you will eat... gross yogurt. I hope that the strawberry is slightly better or at least edible. Do you try to save a few cents and end up spending more?

Eyeliner Review

As with every girl here in America I am constantly on the hunt for makeup that does what I need it to do in the least amount of time. I don't really care to spend my morning putting makeup on that is going to melt off before you can say what's for lunch. So I am constantly looking for something that is easy to put on and stays on all day long. Lately I have been trying to find a different eyeliner. The morning of my defense my eyeliner decided to melt pretty much all over my face, thank goodness Dawn was around to fix this monstrosity. So I though I would review the few that I have tried so that you can save your money.

First up: Maybelline Define-a-line

I have used this eyeliner for years and prior to my defense I really liked it. My only problem is that eventually it gets mushy and smears all over your face as you try to put it on. Also a little heat outside goes a really long way to melting what you did put on all over you and that is gross. But this does have the advantage that you can sharpen the eyeliner and put on a finer line or a thicker line, you do get to choose.

Second up: Revlon Color Stay Eye Pen

I saw this one at the store when I was hunting for a new eyeliner it looks perfect. It seems to be a pen that you uncap and draw a line on your eyelid. So far there are no screaming red flags until I open the tube and it isn't really a soft point it is the hardest thing ever. I look at the package, maybe I am supposed to soak this in water or something. Nope it looks like you just write on your eyelid. So that is what I do. Let me tell you how agonizing this was I thought I was going to puncture my eyelid, but I continue until I get to the end of one eye. As I look in the mirror there isn't a whole lot going on... this means that after all of that pain and agony I am going to have to do it again just to make it look like I am wearing eyeliner. I have tried this eyeliner several different times and every single time there is lots of pain and no eyeliner on my face. I guess I will hang on to this one in case someone has a helpful hint about how not to damage your eye with this one. I also would NOT recommend buying this one.



Third: Almay intense i-color

I have been a fan of liquid eyeliner for years really but some jerk face I dated told me that he hated that type of eyeliner and that my makeup made me look ugly and on and on. I listened to him and changed it up, but this really should have been cue thirty five or something that I should have dumped him but really hindsight is always 20-20 and at least we are no longer together and I really have nothing to do with him. Someday I might share some of the best stories but for now we just know he sucked. But back to the eyeliner, I found this one the same day I found the stab you in the eye one. I really like this eyeliner it goes on smoothly and doesn't tend to run all over your face. I was unaware when I bought this but it is a black pearl color so it has a hint of shimmer around your eye which I was a little skeptical about in the beginning but now I really love it. I find this type of liquid eyeliner better than some of the others the shorter wand makes it easier to control and I am less likely to get it all over my face. However, once it gets a little old it does get much harder to put on but I think that is because it dries out and then is nasty.

I hope that these reviews have helped you decide what you should buy when you are wandering through target or some store like that thinking hey I really need more eyeliner because really is one type enough? Let me know if you know how to use the stab you in the eye variety, I could be using it wrong or I should be because who wants to stab themselves in the eye to look beautiful? Well probably the people who don't eat to look pretty, that is so silly.

Wearing grown up clothes

One of the main things a girl wants when she grows up is to look beautiful at work. When I was younger I knew that I wanted to be one of those women who wears a power suit and heels to work everyday, the kind of woman who can get stuff done. I have no idea how I knew this as a child but I did and I looked forward to that day really until I realized that I wanted to go into science and in a more serious way realized that I have no fashion sense... crap. Regardless I have worked hard over the years to figure out what is my style and how does that work in my life.

My style is somewhat of a classic style and if you want a mental picture, think J. Crew, Ralph Lauren, to some extend Michael Kors clothing, but I love the look of an Oxford shirt and khakis and something with color. Here is the problem with my style, to date I can't really afford it on a daily basis. Another problem is that wearing cute stuff like that is great right up until the moment when you spill a chemical on it and ruin your expensive new outfit.

I realized a few things about my new style and how to work this into my job...
-I don't have to wear jeans to work, I can but I don't have to.
-I can wear nicer things than before since I don't actually use any chemicals, just salt and that washes out
-I have a lab coat, with my name on it to wear on days when I don't want science on my clothes.
-Learning to mix and match the pieces that I do have makes it seem like I have more clothes
-I need new clothes, lots of new clothes
-I can look cute everyday, that is a choice and it is my choice...

To work on these things I have been trying to buy several new pieces a month and fill in the holes in my wardrobe, it is a little weird to buy stuff and not really have to worry about how this is going to work out I can buy it because I like it and I love how it looks on me. I bought an 18 pack of hangers and I hope to need to buy more soon... this is how I measure my closet. For a long time I bought new clothes and no hangers but not I need hangers and clothes, I feel like such an adult. I will be sure to post pics of my new favorite pieces but rest in knowing that for now I love looking in my closet and saying what do I want to wear today... so many good choices.