Life in Beta

I always have good intentions to hit up the local thrift stores and garage sales, but I rarely have a chance. These are my wishlist items that I’m keeping an eye out for …

1. Vintage Pyrex - I have a couple pieces of the olive green, but I’m really wanting the pink and/or baby blue.

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2. Polaroid Camera - In particular, the OneStep SX-70.

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3. Chairs for my Office - The chair at my computer desk is broken, so I need to replace that, and I’d like to have a couple more chairs in the room for hanging out, reading, knitting, etc. I’m not sure exactly what I’m looking for yet — something funky and fun, maybe something I can reupholster in a nifty fabric.

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What’s on YOUR thrifting wishlist?

For the heck of it, I decided to get myself a new piercing — a frontal helix — for my birthday. [For anyone who might care, it was done by Tim at Ink Assassins. Both he and their other piercer, Brandon, are awesome.)

I figure it’s the last year of my 20s … might as well do something silly and fun, right? (Shhh… don’t tell but am loving it way too much and it’s kind of re-ignited my love for piercings. But I’ll behave, I swear. Ha ha.)

Mike, Little Man and I spent some time being silly and playing around with Photo Booth on my Mac this afternoon…

Perfect way to amuse a toddler for quite a while!! Daddies seem pretty entertained with it too, actually.  (Okay, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I got a lot of laughs out of it as well.) Hehe.

The snow here is getting ridiculous. It’s not as if that much fell (we have certainly had worse), but it’s as if the city just decided to not bother plowing because the forecast is calling for temperatures near 50-degrees on Monday. Meanwhile the mayor declared a “snow emergency” and all the secondary roads are atrocious. The parking lots of businesses aren’t much better. People are getting stuck everywhere.

We managed to dig ourselves out and we went out to dinner tonight at Boston’s (my employer had given me a $50 gift card for my birthday!). Then we did some shopping at Target. (Gosh I love that store, and I hardly ever go anymore, so it was a treat.)

Little Man insisted on pushing the cart. (It looked more like he was trying to do chin-ups on it!) I used the gift card my friend Erica sent for my birthday to get a new wallet and purse (on clearance!). The wallet is especially fantastic because it actually has places for all my debit, credit, shopper-discount, insurance etc. cards that I carry around with me everywhere I go. I feel so darn organized now!

I’ve enjoyed my Thursday and Friday off work … and love the fact that I have two more days off left to enjoy. A perfect (long) birthday weekend!

What are your weekend plans?

Weekends pass by far too quickly around here. My hunny had to work all weekend. I feel like I’ve barely seen him. Working such opposite shifts is a real bummer sometimes.

Friday night I went to an auction with my parents. It was such a fun way to spend the evening! There were some pretty bizarre things: everything from kids’ toys to machetes. (I’m not kidding.) Watching who bid on what was pretty amusing too. I discovered auctions for me are a lot like casinos for most people … highly addictive! I wound up getting some great deals on gifts. I also got a nice Christmas wreath that has twinkling white lights in it. I’m thinking I’ll make a nice bow for it and it’ll be perfect to hang on our door for the holidays!

I spent the day Saturday visiting my parents and doing laundry. Loads and loads of laundry. Omigosh laundry and dishes in our house are never-ending, I swear!

Dad and I got some time to hang out on Saturday afternoon. He had stumbled upon some old photo albums from when he was a child up through his 20s. We had fun looking through them.

I loved this photo especially — my dad (far left) and his army buddies when they were stationed in Germany in 1968. (How cool is that car!?)

Mom and I also visited – watched Whip It and knitted. (I’m now totally obsessed with all things roller derby. Amazing. Wish I wasn’t such a wimp. Perhaps in my next lifetime? Heh.)

Today was uneventful. It was a rainy, dreary day, a perfect day to just stay home, cuddled in my favorite afghan with Gracie and Stu. And that’s exactly what I did.

I’m so not ready to go back to work tomorrow! Dang it.

I’ve learned, in the last 6 months especially, the joys of finding things secondhand.

Like last night, I hunted all the local CD/DVD trade-in places in the area (of which there are many) and came up with the first three seasons of Robot Chicken and the final season of Queer as Folk (a gift) for under $40! Whatta deal.

Then I stopped in to a local jeweler to get rid of some old jewelry that I never wear anymore. As the man was examining each piece, I happened to look down into the glass case. Directly beneath where we were standing was this lovely piece of estate jewelry: a 14k gold ring with a pink star sapphire. Simple, girly, and lovely!

I couldn’t resist and asked to see it. When I put it on, it fit me perfectly. I waffled back and forth. After all, I’d gone into the jeweler to get rid of some jewelry, not to buy more.

But then the salesman (I believe it’s he and his wife that own the shop, actually — lovely people, whom I really enjoyed chatting with while I was there) offered to knock some off the marked price on it … and I couldn’t resist.

So this pretty little thing has a new home and I’m kinda-sorta in love with it.