Sleep

I had a great time last night.  I ended up meeting my dad early at Zola's downtown to grab a few drinks and we ended up with a group of about 6-7 of us sitting there.  The dinner itself was really nice.  I felt a little bit like a fish out of water since everyone seemed to know everyone at this event.  I know I am still fairly new to the association world, so it will take some time.  I did realize though, that I need to do a MUCH better job of committing people's names to memory.  Specifically, CVB (convention and visitors bureau) people.  You meet so many of them while doing site visits and when they make office visits, that it can be hard to keep up.  I actually felt terrible when one of them approached me while I was waiting for my car and I had just met her 3 weeks ago.  Granted, I had 5 other meetings in between that time, but still.

New task: REMEMBER people's names!  Make a real connection instead of a superficial one.

I ended up getting home around 10:30.  Just enough time to let Samson walk to the mailbox with me and get ready for bed.  Thankfully, he was very good and we feel asleep pretty quickly.  5am certainly did come fast though.

I have realized over the last 6 years that I've been working.... Sleep is important to me.  I need sleep.  And I need at least 6 hours.  It's really difficult for me to function on anything less.  And it's never just one night.  If I get less sleep one night during the week, it has a domino effect on the whole rest of the week for me.

So this morning, I went the Starbucks route, because I knew how tired I would be.

Salted Caramel Mocha - I love you.

Venti sized - Because I need it

P.s.  Ok, it's definitely not helpful for me "lose weight - keep in shape" goal.  But I get it with nonfat milk and no whip cream so I feel better about it. :)

"Date" Night

So tonight after work, my dad invited me to attend this Awards dinner for an Association we are both members of.  His association bought a table, so his directors and a few other colleagues will be there.  It will be a great networking opportunity... plus, I enjoy getting to spend some solo time with each of my parents.  With three siblings, I don't feel like that happens very often.  I love family time, but the one on one time is nice also.  Besides, it's been lonely here since my roommates left.

The dress is business... which, while I understand, I also find really boring.  I hate business attire.  Special thanks to Amanda for her remote outfit assistance!

 *Dress - Banana Republic (more than a year old and bought in "tall".... will buy all dresses from there in tall if I can.  It fits the best.)

 *Jacket - JCrew (also fairly old.  I have a hard time committing to blazers because I can never seem to get the right fit.)

 DV by Dolce Vita shoes (on sale now!)

Sorry, the pictures aren't that great.  It's really hard to take photos of your own feet!  But, I thought these shoes were worth it.  They are tall, but I'm looking forward to wearing them.

Also, I painted my nails last night.  "Gilty Pleasure" by Sally Hanson.  I really like this brand (found at any drug store).  The colors are nice.  The brush makes the color go on nicely and they dry pretty fast.

A little reminder

Yesterday, I was having a rough morning and Lauren sent me this via a pin.

This hits home probably more than she intended it to.  Especially given my "in limbo" status currently.  This is definitely what I want to be emulating more than what I am doing... which is WAITING to be able to start over.

It's a fine line between wanting to do things so badly and really being able to do it.  And in a lot of ways, I feel like I've been doing this exact thing for the last 9 months... waiting for the better days.

Here's hoping that what I really want to happen will happen so and I can get out of this house and honestly move on.

I still love her for the gentle poke in the side though. :)

I love this skirt

*shirt & Skirt - JCrew, shoes - Steven, belt - Target

That is all.

No Heat Curls

So a while ago, I saw this "no heat curls" tutorial on Pinterest.  Coming from a girl who has pin straight hair that hold curl barely at best, I was skeptical.

So last night, after taking a shower and letting my hair dry almost completely, I thought I would give it a shot.  I followed the instructions on the video (and several other linked bloggers) and let it go.  Here's a photo from last night.....  you are so lucky I love you because this is scary.

Then, this morning, I woke up and walked Samson and it looked like this... yes, bedhead.  This was actually pretty comfortable to sleep in.

Here's the after - when I took it all out.

I ended up washing it out in the shower, but it gave me a pretty good idea of what potential it had.  Next time I would attempt this for real, I would do a better job in the front so it looks nicer.  I would also use product, both before AND after, so that it had the best chance to hold.

Some parts were curlier than others, but I think that was due to the way I wrapped the hair.  Also...  note to self - DO NOT BRUSH IT OUT.  The curls looked much better before I even took these pictures.

51?!

It was downright COLD in my house this morning.  When my alarm went off, I checked my Weather.com app just like I always do.  So that I know what I need to wear to walk Samson and help me think about what I might want to wear to work.

Today, the high is supposed to be 51.  Brrr... that's pretty cold for this early in the DC area.  Of course, it was in the 70s the last week so I turned my AC off in the house.  When I got downstairs, it was 63 in my house.  I had to turn the heat on a bit just to take the chill off.

Of course, this means pants to work.  Ugh.  You know how I feel about my work options with dress pants.  I should've just worn tights and a dress or skirt.  At least this pair of pants from Express still look nice.  The butts not saggy and the waist has buttons and tabs so you can adjust the waistband.  Nice for the person between sizes. :)

Also, I got this necklace on Old Navy's website when I was ordering boots (which aren't supposed to come until November!!).  I had a tough time deciding between this necklace or my new BaubleBar one that came in the mail on Saturday.  It's awesome, so I can't wait to wear it.

*shirt & sweater - JCrew, pants - Express, shoes - Nine West, Necklace - Old Navy

A quiet weekend

After the last weekend and the drama with the leak, I had planned a weekend of productivity for this past weekend.  As last week crawled along, those plans changed to more of a relaxing weekend.

So by the time Friday afternoon rolled around, I had zero energy to do anything productive.  Here's what I ended up doing this weekend.

1. Watched DVRed TV.  I finally caught up with all the shows I had taped during the week that I just never got around to watching.  By the way, Person of Interest could possibly be my new favorite show.  I'm so thrilled Jim Caviezel is on TV.  It helps that he's so good looking too.
2. Watched a lot of movies.  I put a significant dent into my list of 26 new movies from the 101 list.  Some were great (The Conspirator) and some were terrible (The Informant!).  And I really enjoyed watching Bridesmaids again.
3. Napped.  Self explanatory I think.
4. Walk Samson/Pet Samson/Scratch Samson/Play tug-of-war with Samson.
5. Did laundry and picked up groceries. 

Wow.  It looks even sadder when I reread it than it did while I was actually doing it.  

While I enjoyed being unproductive; it is also very lonely.  Thankfully, I have Samson around.  

I have a few things going on this week, and hopefully will have the hole in my bathroom repaired so I will have some painting to do.