What I learned over the weekend – Vancouver, BC edition

~I love being surprised with last minute weekend getaways.
~I really love the guy who so frequently surprises me with these little trips.
~Hotels.com idea of four stars differs a little from ours.
~At a glance, hotel conditioner and lotion can easily be confused with one another.
~Once applied to the hair, the difference between lotion and conditioner is extremely apparent.
~My camera phone takes crap pictures...as you can see.
~Rob has a playlist on his iPod hilariously titled Party Jams.
~Not a single jam on this playlist is party-like, in any way.
~Vince Vaughn and Kevin James are both funny men, but together a not-so-funny movie they make.
~Canadian Mountain Dew contains NO caffeine.

It's hip to be a square

Last Saturday we found ourselves wandering through what is normally a beautiful park along the Seattle waterfront. I say normally because this trip it was a little less than lovely. Seattle Hempfest had taken over the park and it was pure chaos, but in the most laid back of ways, of course.

We been to Hempfest once before, you know - just to say we'd gone, but apparently we've turned into complete squares since then. It was really crowded and super smelly (I got a wee bit nauseous and Rob was feeling a tad 'affected' by the surrounding odor) just by walking through the park.

The place was covered in garbage and there was an abundance of parents who thought it a good idea to bring their children. Way to go! It was a good place to people watch though...always a plus.

We snapped a few pictures, did a little bit of walking around/shoving our way through the park, dared to buy and drink some bottled water and then made a beeline back to the safety of our neck of the woods. I can confidently say we've been Hempfest-ed out. For good.

Green Goodness

I think we all know that I am no Martha in the kitchen, but I thought since I didn't have school tonight, I'd try to make an effort to celebrate St. Patty's Day a little.

Yep, spinach tortellini with green alfredo sauce, green buttered garlic bread, asparagus with green balsamic garlic sauce and green Gatorade.

Corny? Yep. But it was quite tasty if I do say so myself. I think Rob could have taken it or left it. The green sauce threw him off a bit. So there...don't say I can't be festive. ☺

My new specialty

My stitches are supposed to dissolve, but instead came loose/untied and they had been bothering me all weekend!

While I was at Target yesterday I picked up some manicure scissors and alcohol wipes with full intention of taking them out myself.

As soon as I got into my car I busted the goods out, along with my tweezers set I keep in my make up case. I proceeded to pull down my visor mirror, clean off my 'tools' and take out what stitches I could see.

I guess this was weird enough, because the man who pulled in next to me gave me the weirdest look. I think that I am ready to be a surgical intern...or at least on the cast of Grey's Anatomy, don't ya think? ☺

Not to worry, I didn't take them ALL out...just the loose ones that were bothering me. I am not completely stupid...I'd seen my Dad take out stitches before. That ought to count for some clinical hours, right? ☺

I have a post op appointment tomorrow to have things checked out and I am a little hesitant to reveal my parking lot 'procedure' to the Doc when he inquires about my missing stitches.

Hmm...how can I put a spin on that??

Weiner dog

Last week Rob called me from his Mom's house and told me to hurry over, he had a surprise for me. I was puzzled, but bored, so I drove on over. I was greeted by this darlin' little gal, Maggie.

Turns out she wasn't my surprise though. Rob's Mom bought Maggie for herself and the 'surprise' was that Rob was bringing Jackson home to live with us. Sure I was surprised, but not necessarily the good kind of surprised, but I thought I'd roll with it.

It's been quite the adjustment dealing with him at our house. I wasn't raised with pets and I think it's an understatement to say that I am not an animal person, but I am trying to stay positive about the little guy.

Over the weekend wandered down to the lake (which this blah cell phone picture doesn't do justice) to test him out around other animals and all was well. He didn't even chase the ducks that were wandering all around. I think he might be a sissy kind of dog, but don't tell Rob I said that. :)

The two love birds

There have been a couple of times over the past few days when we have been ready to send him back, but for now he is still around...we'll see how long it lasts!

Big Winner

Friday night Rob surprised me by taking me up to the new Snoqualmie Casino, our own mini Vegas just one town away. Neither of us are really big gamblers, but Rob definitely enjoys it more than I do. I have a hard time losing money, and I rarely win anyways. Rob is more from the 'bet big, win big' school of gambling while I like to save my dollars and stick to the nickel slots. Within the first 10 minutes of us being there Rob had already lost $200 at the blackjack tables. I couldn't handle the losing and was ready to leave.

We decided to try out the slots before taking off. Naturally I headed towards the nickel slots and found one that looked fun - it was a cow dairy themed game called Milk Money. I slipped in a $1 and on my second try I hit a major jackpot, well major by nickel slot standards. I won over $30 bucks! I know $30 bucks isn't very much, but it was more than I had ever won before.

I took a picture of the screen, but before I could get a good shot a casino security guard came and told me that cameras were not allowed on the casino floor. I already knew that (I got in trouble for taking pictures in a Vegas casino a few years back), but I thought it was worth a try. I decided to cash out and head to the ladies where I could take a picture of my winnings in private without anyone around to ruin my happiness.

I was still on a high and wanted to keep playing. I went on to win another $20 bucks or so then lost $20 again. This was more than enough excitement for us. I cashed out my big money and told Rob that I was going to take him somewhere nice for dinner with my winnings, or at least as nice as $30 could buy. After some shopping at Bellevue Square I treated my beau to the classiest of all classy establishments, Red Robin. Quite the night!

It's a REAL sickness

I stayed home sick today, but I was having the hardest time resting. Probably because we spent almost our entire four day weekend lounging around. Although we did brave the mall for a few hours of shopping yesterday.

This morning I realized that I was really sick of sitting in bed and wanted to get up and do something. Then it hit me...we have so much crap that we do not need. I started pulling clothes out of closets, books off of shelves, empty unused picture frames out of the garage and stacking it all into bags and boxes to drop off at Goodwill. After the big rush died down a little bit, I noticed that I had not packed up as much stuff as I thought I would have. Turns out I have a hard time parting with things, even if I have not used it for years (and probably wouldn't use for a few more!). I really should get rid of that stuff, right?

So my first stop of round two was the storage bins under the beds...my purses! It was actually pretty exciting to go through them because I had forgotten that I had some of them and was looking forward to using them. Needless to say, I had gotten off track! It brought me back to a comment Rob made yesterday while I was searching for a new purse at Macys. How many purses do you REALLY need? I quickly dismissed his comment...what does he know about purses!?! Besides, I really don't have that many.

Or so I thought...

After counting, I was completely stunned to find out that I have thirty-eight...that's right - 38 purses! Now that doesn't even include laptop bags or travel totes! Well, he is right...I definitely don't need that many purses. But now the hard part is deciding which ones I don't absolutely have to have.

I then had a Carrie moment when I realized that the cost of all of these purses could have covered my student loans. No more purses for me. Well, not in the near future at least. :)

What a mess! I should have just stayed in bed and been sick.

Best impulse buy ever!!

Well, maybe not ever, but definitely the best one this week. I was waiting in the LONGEST line at Staples the other day when my eyes wandered onto this shiny baby...

...as soon as my gaze locked, I knew I had to have it. I had forgotten about it until this afternoon and have been on a labeling spree ever since. So now everything in purse/computer case has been tagged in metallic silver. I even drew silver dots on my bright red toenails. This is what happens we I am home from work and hopped up on DayQuil & Sudafed. I took the DayQuil and wasn't feeling much better. Turns out it expired in February of last year, so I popped two Sudafed, then I was feeling pretty good. That's not good though, huh? I had better check the expiration date on the NyQuil before I take it...

$$ Impulse buying $$

I just purchased an airline ticket to Utah tomorrow to see my family and I am so excited. I haven't been back since April. I have two cute nieces there that I just don't get to see enough, and of course the rest of my family, as well. We are all heading camping so I will definitely have some cute pictures to post when I return.

I am sad that Rob won't be going with me. While I was at work I tried to call him to see if he wanted to come but he was in a meeting and didn't answer, so I just bought a ticket for me - see...impulsive! I don't know why, but I just couldn't wait a few hours to hear back from him. Since he isn't really into camping I figured that he wouldn't want to go anyways. He also just started a LSAT prep course and would have to miss it if he came to Utah. I baked him a cake to make it up to him...not sure if that clears me or not...we'll see. Rob gets along great with my family and really likes to play with my nieces. In fact, he is usually the one that initiates the trips down to Utah, not me. Only he doesn't call it Utah, he calls it The Tah. I think he's funny! :)

A change is gonna come (but I need help)

OK, I clearly cannot be left alone! The second that Rob left for class tonight I got bored and dyed my hair back brown. And of course, it looks nothing near the salon-like color Clairol promised! This morning I called my salon to make an appointment to have my bad hair cut fixed and decided to schedule a color as well (I have been thinking of going back to brown for a month or so), but I just couldn't wait for my appointment. So here is my new crappy cut with my homecolored hair. Please excuse my sunglasses, I had already washed my make up off and I was feeling too lazy to put it back on. I am also too big of a chicken to post a make up free picture.

Now I just need to decide on how to cut my hair. Over the past few years I have had a number of short hair looks. Which one should I go back to? Pardon the fuzziness of the shots. I pulled some pictures out of a photo album and scanned them rather than dig through all of my photo back up discs for clearer pictures. Also, please ignore my goofy grins and poses...just focus on the hair. And, no the first one isn't a mug shot! It is my driver's license :)

Which style should I go back to?

Oh no...big mistake!!

Over the last few weeks, or maybe months I have been contemplating what to do with my hair. But usually I just think about it and talk about it and whine about it. I certainly never do anything about it. I don't know exactly what it was that got into me this morning, but something prompted me to call my favorite hair salon and see if they had an opening for an afternoon haircut. Maybe I had low blood sugar?? Since they never do have appointments open at the last minute, I expected to be turned down. But what do you know, they did have an opening! After I hung up I was hit with a huge wave of 'oh crap, what am I going to do?!?' and immediately hit redial to cancel the appointment. But before they picked up I chickened out on chickening out and hung up. How stupid would I sound cancelling an appointment that I had just made! I had 2 hours to put together a plan, which of course, I didn't. I just showed up there with no idea as to what I wanted to do. I am sure that they (I am not exactly sure what their titles actually are...stylist, barbers, hair cutters...so I will just stick with 'they') find that completely annoying. I managed to spit out a halfway decent description as to what I wanted and she, scissors in hand, was off! Her hair looked really cute, so I assumed that she would do something really cute with my hair. I didn't have her blow it out and style it before I left, which I know now is a big no-no. I thought it felt great wet, so I was sure it would be good dry too. Not so much! I got home and played around with it and with tears in my eyes, tried to make it look somewhat like what I thought the stylist/barber/hair cutter had in mind. I still haven't worked myself up to actually taking a picture of my new do to post. Maybe sometime this weekend after the swelling in my teary eyes goes down I will be ready to share my big mistake with the world. Any by the world, I really mean the small handful of you who might read this. I have got to use you all as a buffer before I have to show it off at work on Monday. Or maybe I could call in sick. That makes me sound pathetic, never mind...I didn't really mean it! Stay tuned...