Learning to Drive

Up until I purchased my car just a hair over two years ago I could claim no competency for driving a manual.

(Have I talked about this? If so, too bad.)

My manual experiences, and yes there were plural, prior to that consisted of:
A) Driving a borrowed Subaru with my dad. All I remember is getting stuck at a stop sign on a hill and him yelling. My dad isn't a yeller.
B) Two separate occasions with my best friend, who would probably agree that they weren't the best. On the second, both she and her mom were in the car waiting for the other to tell me what to do.
C) An old farm truck that was more likely to drive of senility than of a mis-use of the clutch.

Fast forward to two years ago. I have been car shopping, somewhat seriously, and focusing mostly on Toyota Tacomas (the car of my heart).

One pick-up I test drove was even a manual (and ridiculously beyond my budget). The salesman put his life in my hands that time. I think I killed it about 7.5 times.

Then my dad spots a Honda Civic Hybrid being sold privately in the paper. A car that is almost the exact opposite of a pickup.

It is a manual.

I drive it once and decide to buy it.

Impulsive me? Actually, almost never. Unless it involves shoes.

Needless to say, I am now quite competent at driving a manual.

Although, Gwenyth (that's what I call my car) is a little high maintenance and prone to occasional pouting (a.k.a. stalling). Luckily, I can pop her in and out of first and she restarts herself.

It's like magic.

Not worth reading.

Let me just start off by saying that I really do care about this blog, at least on some level.

But I've been busy, yada, yada, and the blog has taken the hit. Work started back up, I'm mowing, and I've been housesitting/dogsitting.

That's not even counting my relentless social life. Haha. That was a funny one.

I mean, I have a lot of friends (or new TV shows to watch).

Plus, I've been contemplating things like grad school, money making schemes, and why I don't live somewhere tropical.

On top of all of that, I've had to wake up before 7am. It's rough, this life of mine.

And now, I spent way too many words on my extremely boring, unblogworthy life.

On that note, it's past my bedtime. And I'm only partially joking.

Magic?

Sometimes I'm not sure what people who create labels and instructions are thinking.

I'm not the first blogger to cover this topic and I doubt I will be the last, but I saw something the other day I just thought was ridiculous.

It was a bottle of hairspray, a nice brand, too.

The instructions said to hold the bottle a foot from your hair and move it like a magic wand.

Really? A magic wand?

Just who do they suppose is using the bottle? Hogwarts students?

It just seems ridiculous to me. I certainly have never been trained in the magic wand art.

Also, I would imagine that not everyone uses their magic wand exactly the same.

But since magic wands aren't a part of real life, I can't really be sure about that.

Joining the Health Care Debate

Sort of, but not really at all.

Mostly I just want to pass along this video. It cracked me up.

Happy Tuesday!

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Open to Suggestions

It could be the three glasses of wine, the 6 hour drive across the state, or the lack of sleep this weekend, but I feel like I could fall asleep in about 2.5 seconds.

Instead I am choosing to watch Bones.

What can I say, I'm a glutton for TV shows. I was trying to watch House, but FOX (at least on my TV) was having major issues and I didn't understand about every other word.

It was painful.

Speaking of TV, I watched the Emmys last night, which made me realize that I am glutton for suggestion--as a consumer and as a person.

After seeing a clip of Hugh Jackman's performance from last year's Oscars, I found myself on Youtube.com watching said performances.

Now I also want to try Yoplait Whips frozen, feel the need for a slouchy sweater (although I have previously mentioned that) and want to ask questions of the stadium full of Best Buy empl0yees.

Whoever realized how gullible humans are must have made a mint.

Now excuse me while I fall asleep, after I finish Bones and take a shower, that is.

Sometimes I want to rip my hair out.

I drove across the state yesterday to my alma mater to visit family and friends and not go watch our football team get their butt kicked.

It's too painful and I'd rather watch good football on TV. Sorry.

The drive is about as long as 3-4 eastern seaboard states and half of Europe. I can usually make it in under 6 hours because of my awesome ninja skills, knowledge of cop hang outs and countless experience, but it's construction season here in our great state.

And yes, that is a season. You can't convince me otherwise.

Instead the freeway was turned into a two-lane highway. On top of that, the genius construction people warned of the decreased lane-age about ten miles early causing everyone to freak out and slow down WAY too soon.

This meant that people either A) got over way too soon or B) flew past everyone until they had no choice but to get over.

It sucked until the semi-driver, who was probably more fed up than me, started driving down the middle of both lanes forcing people to actually get over so traffic could start moving again.

Sometimes, and by sometimes I mean very rarely, I wish I was driving a semi so I could rule the road including people with their fancy, overdone, jacked up pickups. I'm all for pick ups, but we know you are trying to compensate for something by being ten feet off the ground.

Plus who wants to make that much effort to get into their car. Really. Really. (Thanks SNL Weekend Update Thursday Edition.)

But I made it and have already seen people, eaten good food, and sweated because apparently it's still very much summer here and approximately 20 million degrees even though it's almost October.

The world is a weird place, I tell you.

Now excuse me while I accompany my cousin and her fiance to Moscow (and I don't mean Russia) for bridal registering. Such a fun Friday.

Actually, I'll probably abandon them and go in search of shoes.

Wishin' and Hopin'

Because I have contracted some sort of death cold, evil sickness blogging has become even less of a priority than previously.

Or at least having to put thought into my blog is no longer a priority.

Instead today I provide you with my current wishlist, of some things I want and some (well, mainly one) things I need. Without further ado...

I saw this skirt in Nordstrom's catalogue and fell in love. Pencil skirts are my favorite and I love the colors!








These are Seychelles shoes and will hopefully replace my most comfortable, loved, and now worn wedges. I got the originals over five years ago and have been looking for the perfect replacement.


This fits into the need category. I knew the time for new tires was quickly approaching and my last tune-up affirmed that. And these bad boys are what I will be purchasing.







I finally have my room organized and looking good. Except for a couple unsightly plastic drawers. A highboy dresser would take care of that problem, so I've been scouring Craigslist in search of a tall dresser to call my own and complete my room.




Maybe it's the evil cold or the rainy day, but nothing sounds more wonderful to me than a comfy slouchy sweater. I'm craving one of my own.





I fell in love with Bobbie Brown's creme shadows years and years ago, around the time I got my most comfortable wedges actually. Now she's come out with metallics and I'm excited to go see them in person. And possibly buy one or five.