Spring Swing

There might be snow on the ground, but I have quite the hankering to spend my entire tax return (note to self: do your taxes) on spring and summer dresses. Dresses for work are the best because they don't require me to put together an outfit, just throw it on with some wedges. Boom. done.

After almost a year, its fair to say, I've gotten a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't in the office and when I am on the go. My goal is to find classic pieces with a bit of fun to them that are work appropriate.

Here are some of the dresses I'm eyeing for this summer.

Real quick, this Stripe Pocket dress from Gap is exactly what I mean.

So easy and so adorable. Plus comfortable! And hella versatile. I will absolutely wear this on your patio, drinking beer on a Saturday afternoon.

My love of Modcloth is not a secret and here's why. Without even trying that hard I found four dresses that are perfect for work and play and sunshine.

In case you have also fallen in love with any of these dresses, they are (from t-b, l-r) Dilly Tally Dress, Inlet's Get Together, Book Exchange Brunch (which will need a cami for sure), and A Whole Neutral Outlook. 

If navy or stripes ever go out of style, I am totally screwed (and they won't because everyone will always romanticize the sea, so that's convenient). 

I think a work dress is something with a classic waist (ie, your waist. It is so bonkers how much skinner you actually look with a belt at your natural waist), and either a classic pattern/solid or a classic neckline. You should be complimented but people shouldn't wonder if you're going to a little kid's birthday later.

Of course, these rules were made to be broken for the very fashion adventurous among us - but if you're like me and dread the thought of having to put four pieces of clothing together in semblance of an "outfit," these rules will do you good.  Play with fun patters in a simple shift, or do a crazy cowl neck with a gorgeous charcoal. 

And here's a favorite from Loft (the Loft? Ann Taylor Loft? I have no idea). A store I used to make fun of my sweet friends for shopping at, but 10 years later, I find myself wearing my newest LBJ from there, at least once a week.

This guy is so simple and perfect. Which is all I want out of my clothes, things things that are easily cute. This floral cutout dress fits the bill.

How many times am I going to beg for summer this year?

Bounce for Joy

I get really, really excited when Target sells fancy clothes that I can afford. My Jason Wu black cocktail dress continues to be one of my most favorite pieces of clothing. I wear it at least four times a year.

I am hella pumped for the Peter Pilotto for Target collection. It gives people like me, who like to play it safe in the colors and patterns department, an opportunity to branch out and try new things without spending approximately ALL of the dollars.

I am not wild about the separates, but I love the dresses in the collection.

 

Refinery29 has the whole look book for your lunch time browsing pleasure.

 

What I love even more than these two dresses, which I will get dirty and fight to the death for, is the fact that when I searched Peter Pilotto Target, this is what came up:

 

Dude makes real fun printed dresses and trampolines. I'm sold.



Playing Dress Up: Modcloth

I am coming up on my five month anniversry at work and I still feel like I'm playing dress up every day. I also feel like I'm playing pretend, but that's a topic for another day.

Before this job, the only dress code at any of my post-college jobs was "pants." I had to wear pants and a shirt and, if I was walking around, shoes. Now, I live in the world of "Business Smart." 

I hate button down shirts and I really hate blazers so I was stuck trying to find work outfits that were appropriate and in which I felt comfortable. It was bad enough to be totally terrified of failure in a brand new gig but to also to be walking in the door feeling like I looked terrible was a recipe for disaster.

Modcloth to the rescue. 

Dresses have been my go-to. The rules are they need to be at-the-knee and shoulder-covering. But that's it. Dresses have given me the opportunity to be my weird, childish self while also looking nice and ready to get things done.

My first dress was the New Hire and Higher I pinned it months ago as the dress I would buy when I got a new job, I ended up with it in slate (rather than dark) which is lighter fabric and was ideal for summer. Although I always tie the sash in a knot and on the side because I am punk rock like that. 

In that first order, I also grabbed the Coach Tour dress in violet (another pinterest find). Every time I wear this dress someone compliments it. I think because it is professional, but has an interesting neckline and a fuller skirt. Professional and fun. Also it has pockets, it can do no wrong. If I didn't think people would notice, I would buy it in two or three more colors. 

I snagged the Cultivated Charmer dress before it was gone. I don't wear it as often because while I have been reassured about 20 times that you cannot see my butt through the slit in the back, anytime I walk around in it, I am almost positive you can see my butt through the slit. I like that its got classic lines, but the lace makes it interesting.

My newest acquisition is still on its way (I ordered it, but its too small, I am madly in love with it, so I ordered one size up and I'm hoping it'll be on my body in the next couple weeks), A Symmetry Grows in Brooklyn. I love everything about this dress. I love its belt, I love its pocket, and its sleeves, and its big buttons. 

I love that Modcloth lets me return things without getting weird about it (with every order there has been a return or an exchange, and we're still cool). I love that people are super honest about how the clothes fit in the reviews (sometimes girls have each other's backs). 

I love that I have never seen anyone else in my office or on my commute wearing any of these dresses. While I have filled out the rest of my work wardrobe with pencil skirts, other simple dresses, and even a couple dreaded button downs (we're working on it), I love that all of these dresses will withstand the dreaded trend cycle as I have no patience for clothing that I will stop wearing simply because it is out of style. 

As we get into fall, I'm starting to panic slightly about what I'm going to wear when its too cold for bare legs. Boots are business smart, right?

The Case for Uggs

Some scenarios:

1 - You have what is clearly a deathly bout of the flu.  You have been lying around and moaning for hours only to discover you are out of the healing nectar that is ginger ale.  You probably won't pass out on the street but you are also not putting on a bra. It is 20 degrees in Chicago. You throw on an extra sweatshirt and your fluffiest scarf and prepare to battle the elements with some seriously weakened humors.

2 - You have a busy day!  First you have to go to ballet/yoga/zumba then you have to play with some super adorable little kids who will inevitably demand that you watch them run around in circles outside. You hurt your shoulder (in a past ballet/yoga/zumba class) and are trying not to carry around a giant bag.  Luckily, you can take class barefoot - but hanging with the tots? Not so much. Its 20 degrees in Chicago (and if you think that kids don't run around outside in 20 degree weather in Chicago, you are missing the point of this assignment/do not know kids from Chicago).

3 - It's Friday night and you just got home from work only to discover that you are starving and there is nothing in your house.  Literally nothing because you just ate the last snack sized thing of pickles. You call your favorite pita joint and ask for them to deliver some chicken shawarma with a quickness.  They say it'll be about an hour.  You will be long dead by then.  You still have on all your work clothes but have kicked off your super cute but uncomfortable pumps in a symbolic gesture of throwing off the bindings of paternalist female objectivity...or whatever. You know that if you leave now you can be back on the couch in baba ganoush heaven in fifteen minutes. Its 20 degrees in Chicago as you get ready to put back on your coat but recognize that no amount of caloric necessity will get you to put those monsters from Aldo back on. 

The question at the end of all of these scenarios is (of course) - what do you wear on your feet?

And one acceptable answer for all of these situations is you wear your Uggs (or your bear traps or whatever my knockoffs are called - I am calling them Uggs because I can type it faster, but to be honest I love my $40 version far more than my o.g. pair of the real deal).  You wear them and it is totally fine.

So many blogs have been coming down hard on Uggs in the past few weeks, trying to explain that there are so many other less-ugly boot options, which is true, but every shoe has its moment and for Uggs it is all these moments.

Once you get to be a grown-up, it becomes socially unacceptable to wear your slippers outside, no matter how much you might want to.  You know you've seen that woman on the 10 PM news who just lit her cheatin' boyfriend's car on fire - she is always (always) wearing slippers.  You don't want to be her.  But why would you turn up your nose at the most slipper-like thing you can wear in public without having the Channel 10 news team chase you down?

I wouldn't recommend wearing Uggs on a date or a job interview but if you need tampons and a bottle of Little Penguin?  Sure. You're spending all day running around because despite the freezing cold, everyone is either getting knocked up or married and you have to go spend your life savings on gifts they will return for cash? Fine. You're about to go into the office on a god-forsaken Sunday because your boss conveniently did not scan nor email you the files you need before your presentation on Monday? Do it. Go.

Sometimes you just want to be comfortable and warm. And you deserve it.

Teh rezzies

Some things I would like to accomplish (but that I will not beat myself up over if I don't accomplish them):

-Learn to walk in heels. Wear them more often. Buy heels that aren't super painful. Invest in some of those inserts that make wearing heels for a whole day feasible.

-Take more pictures and put them on the internet.

-Stop playing with my phone & computer all the time.  Use the additional time to keep my apartment clean, read books, increase my heart rate.

-Think critically about my future and what I want to be when I grow up.  By this time next year, I want a comprehensive future plan.

And with all that planning out of the way, I am going to take a nap.

Great clothes

Tonight when I was brushing my teeth (where most of the brilliance happens) I realized I was wearing two pieces of clothing that belonged to my great grandmother*

I considered taking a picture of myself wearing these "pieces" but after a few cell phone photo test shots, I realized this was a terrible, terrible idea.  I am a pretty girl, but right before bed is not a super attractive time for anyone.  So a vivid word description will have to do (I will do my best to keep it under 1000 words).

I am wearing her old tee-shirt with a B. Kliban cat in a tub.  I've sported this shirt out in public before, so there's a chance you've seen it on me - but its getting old and I'm afraid of getting food on it.  The design is so old I cannot find it on the internet (even when I add vintage to my google search).  Which means it's probably from before I was born.  Great Granny wasn't much of a t-shirt kind of lady, so I don't know if she ever wore it.  But its super comfortable.

Over the shirt I am wearing one of the most recent additions to my closet - an excellent LeRoy black cardigan that hits me a few inches above my knee.  It doesn't have buttons up the front, but it does have excellently large pockets.  They're good for a cell phone and chapstick.  Or about 20 tissues, when your nose is still all snotty.  This sucker is also probably older than me.

Anyway!  The clothes themselves are kind of irrelevant except for the fact that they are probably around 30 years old and still kicking!  How great is that?!  Great Granny must have done a phenomenal job taking care of her clothes because I end up with holes in most things after about a year.

Also, I feel crazy lucky that I've ended up being the only girl in my family who fits into Great Granny's clothes (some of my younger cousins probably would also fit, but they are too busy loving Justin Beiber to really care).  I also have two other shirts that belonged to her in my closet but I am terrified that they're not fashionable enough - I should probably get one of my trendy friends to check this out for me.

Weight and clothing size is such an Issue with my Mom's family (a bajillion girls will do that to themselves) and I've never quite felt like I was really the right size, especially since I have a gorgeous older cousin who is/was/will always be taller, skinner and more glamorous than I am.

But if I was any taller this tee shirt would ride up too high on my stomach.  And if I was any smaller, this sweater wouldn't be as warm and comfortable (okay- that's a bit of a stretch, but it fits quite perfectly).  Anyway - Great granny was an awesome, awesome lady - and I am incredibly lucky to have these reminders of how wonderful she is around all the time, keeping me warm and cozy.

Good night.


*At least this is what I think I have been told.  After someone in my family reads this blog, I am sure they will correct me with a quickness.

coat crisis

On my first day living in Chicago - it hailed.  Pearl-sized snow bombs fell from the sky and I wondered if perhaps this was some sort of epic sign of what was to come.  Naturally, I ignored it - but what I did not ignore was the fact that I was in the midst of a fashion crisis.

After spending all of my years on the East Coast - I was completely unprepared for how to dress in a midwestern Winter.  Scarves as a necessary rather than trendy fashion accessory?  Uggs are not snow boots? (No, they are not).  And mostly - a real winter coat?

I've always despised coats because they're bulky and I have to not lose them and in general they indicate cold weather and miserableness.  If I have to put on a coat to go outside, I'd much rather just stay inside if its all the same to you.

When I was a kid my mom bought be a beautiful cranberry-colored full length coat from LL Bean.  And, because I was a moron, I hated it.  Because it wasn't an Adidas coat.  And you went Adidas or you were shunned by the girls in my home town.  So I avoided wearing it - prefering to be cold and miserable rather than unfashionable.  How I wish that coat still existed because I would wear it every single day. Sorry, Mom.

And so I've had these crappy coats that did the job in New York winters (including, finally, an Adidas coat did not bring me the riches, popularity and attention from boys that I had stupidly anticipated). But when I moved to Chicago - I knew something was going to have to change.

At first I really wanted a North Face, because all the girls had them.  But my Mom (who was there with me on that first day) convinced me that the red-headed stepchild Michael Kors coat was equally as cute and about $300 less expensive.  So I listened to her (finally) and got the Michael Kors coat - and it has been with me every terrible winter day since then.

So now, in the February of my fifth Chicago Winter - my beautiful coat has a malfunctioning zipper.  Its doing that super annoying thing where sometimes it works totally fine, and sometimes it starts to zip but then gives up like four inches later, and sometimes it doesn't even put on its cleats. 

This is not a real crisis in that I have a variety of totally rational options available to me - but I am sad to know that the coat that got me through my absolute worst days might not be around much longer.  Its a reminder that this is my home now.  Crappy winters and all.

in my step

I owe the universe a blog.  But I don't have one.  So instead you get this:

Saturday was the first day I've worn anything but boots outside in the past three months.  It was a little soggy, but so glorious.  Spring is coming.

From this angle you would totally think I'm a hipster, but I'm not.  I just look like one from the knees down.

Also there is something so satisfying about muddy Converse.  When they're clean it just looks like you're a poser, but if you purposely try to get them dirty then you're trying too hard.

shorty

I cannot find acceptable length shorts.

I am 5'2 and some of that is legs, and some is torso - its pretty standard. And I really want shorts that are acceptable to wear besides at the beach/grocery store/baseball game.

Turns out that is a pipe dream. There is no such thing as a flattering pair of shorts for a girl of my proportions, which doesn't seem quite fair - because despite the fact that taller people might feel the rain first, I get unbearable hot just like everyone else.

just a barrel

Sometimes I get to a point where I think I have just the right amount of clothes, but then an event pops up, like a wedding, and I cannot find anything to wear in my whooooole closet, and that gives me permission to buy more things.

This is a sick, twisted system and is the reason it will take me 7 years to save for a down payment for a house.

The world is ending

People. Today for the first time since the mid-90's I am wearing leggings. In public*.

This is huge. I shun leggings. I shun girls who wear leggings. I shun Lindsey Lohan for making leggings (among other things). I have been shunning these things for a long time... at some point when I was in college I found myself in an Urban Outfitters and in the never ending piles of poly-blends I found a pair of grey spandex leggings With Stirrups. I looked around, trying to figure out if some how I had time traveled back to 1996. But no, these were in the present day and they cost $35. This was like 5 or 6 years ago. That was when I decided that I was only going to look forward, not back in regards to fashion.

Until recently, when I noticed that all my friends wear leggings and look adorable and not trashy. And I am one to do exactly what all my friends are doing (see: 5Ks, Crobar, being a Badger fan) so I got jealous and bought some leggings and then never wore them. They just sat, tag on, in my dresser waiting for me to give in to my inner hipster.

And I put them on a couple times with a couple different dresses (please note I said dresses - the reason my friends look so adorable is because they wear leggings with dresses, not with tee shirts. The secret to leggings is that your top must cover your whole bottom - with room to spare- for them to look cute, not trashy) but it never worked out.

Well, I've been rocking this sexy pre-summer cold for the last few days which has left me cough-y and snorffle-y and just generally grouchy and cranky. I tried to go to the gym this morning and ride the elliptical which was a disaster of epic proportions because the motion of an elliptical to a person with sinus issues is apparently akin to the motion of a roller coaster to a person with vertigo. I made it about 30 minutes before I realized that I was either going to vomit or pass out and I don't trust the people at my gym not to just leave me on the floor in a heap of sweaty mess.

So I went home and worked in my sweat pants (work from home Thursdays are my favorite) and started to feel a little bit better until 5:30 when I realized I had to get ready to go to iO for job numbero dos. No part of my being wanted to put on jeans... and my boss frowns upon sweats at this particular job...and it is far too windy for just a skirt...and I had just inherited that adorable sweater dress from L.S...

So I put on the leggings, and the sweater dress and the ballet flats and earrings and hair up in a bun (no actual styling happened today) and I walked out the door.

Its kind of windy today, but just the right temperature for this particular ensemble, which it'll probably only be two or three more days before sweater dresses will become weird and impractical until September. And I feel adorable. I'm not going to lie. I feel very cute in this get up...and what's even more amazing is I feel crazy comfortable. I feel like I'm in my stylish jammies, but its a big secret that my boss doesn't know (shhhh.)

I now remember why I wore leggings all the way until 5th grade (no joke, first pair of jeans in 5th grade. Fun fact!). These things are awesome and comfortable and I feel like I can bust out sweet dance moves or cartwheels at a moments notice (which has always been necessary in my life). While I still have some pretty serious rules about leggings (seriously, shirts should cover butts) I am now way more excited to wear them on a regular basis, at least until its warm enough for just dresses.

And once again, I realize that I judge things on a completely insane-makes-sense-to-me way that really needs to be reality checked. While some of the things I've judged before I've tried have deserved my judgement (crobar) - most of them are actually totally acceptable as things. So maybe I should not be so quick to be a dick about...almost everything. Although, at least I can admit when I'm wrong. Even if it takes the better part of a decade.

* so this ONE time my friends got me drunk and convinced me to wear leggings and a long-ish shirt out for ladies-night bar hoping. I was against it pretty much the whole time, but couldn't really pull anything else together that was to the caliber of trendy and adorable that they were all rocking. So I did it. It was pretty bad news. But it was only for a few hours so its almost like it never happened.

green underwears.

So, everyone has a favorite pair of jeans. They're the pair you buy, perhaps on a whim that you end up wearing three or four times a week until they literally decompose on your body. You stress out every time you wash them because it screws them up for like three days. Yeah, those pants. The day those pants die is a dark, dark day for everyone.

My jeans are from American Eagle. I bought them on a whim (isn't that always the way?) the day before I left for Nantucket the summer after my junior year of college. I then wore them every day for pretty much the next two years. They're the most perfect pair of jeans. Super comfortable and yet almost trendy enough to pull of wearing to a bar when you're just not feeling up to the tight, sexy jeans (uh, I guess I should have mentioned I wear jeans every day. No joke. I own -- seriously-- at least 20 pairs that I wear on a regular basis). Anyway, I got complimented on them pretty much every time I wore them and they looked good. I was a happy girl with a good looking ass.

Time passed and at one point a little hole began to form on the back right hand pocket. Right in the top inside corner. I still wore them a lot because I always have cute underwear on and I don't really have any shame Then something tragic, that I've managed to block from my memory, happened and the entire pocket started to rip off, right at the seam. I began to panic and rushed to my neighborhood American Eagle, naturally they had completely redone their denim section (STOP doing that! You're ruining lives, AE). The jeans did not exist anymore. I asked for a similar pair in their new denim line. The brain trust girl in the mini skirt was of no use to me so I went home and was sad. Then I had one of those minutes where I remember that there are people starving all over the world and some people have no pants at all.

So I decided to mend them. People, I am not a seamstress. In fact in the womanly arts I pretty much fail across the board. I can't cook or sew or clean or be submissive and docile...so me trying to mend denim was pretty laughable, but I did it. Then they got shoved to the back of my drawer for awhile because I thought they needed a rest (which they did), I got a new favorite pair (my first sevens) then another new favorite (probably my Polo Ralph Laurens-- although at this point I really like most of my jeans-- and I have three pairs waiting to be hemmed that will become favorites, I have no doubt).

So last week things at work went balls crazy and I found myself working late and (worse) worrying about work while I was doing the fun 20-something things that should be dominating my mental space. By the middle of this week, I had completely stopped caring about what I looked like at work, basically coming in and running around like a kid off her ritalin and then going home and passing out. I also hadn't done laundry in about three weeks. On Thursday morning, what did my comatose fingers find in the back of the drawer? The favorite jeans. I needed something to be happy about so I threw em on with a fairly long tee-shirt (as the corner hole was still fairly obvious-- though I was impressed with my pocket-seam hemming abilities.

Doodley-doo, off to work I went. The day was nothing short of ridiculous with the running around and the long stretches of time spent staring at a computer screen, trying not to cry. About mid-day I had my third potty break (I'm doing this new thing where I try to drink 2 quarts of water a day and that with the gallons of diet coke really run right through me) and I notice that the seams were starting to kind of stretch and the hole down the seam was getting a little bigger. I yanked down my shirt and went about my day.

At the end of my day (that was supposed to end at 5, but actually ended at 7) I go to the bathroom and once again look at my jeans/handy work. Either my butt grew three sizes that day or the running and the stress were apparently a match for my sewing because the hole was ENORMOUS. Like we're talking six inches, right across my rockin' ass. None of the guys in my office (now its me v. 5 guys all day every day-- its kind of the opposite of fun) mentioned anything about it, which was nice of them. Because seriously it was like every nightmare I had in high school, a giant hole and my green underroos (that ironically enough said Drama Club on them) sticking out for everyone to see.

I thanked my lucky stars that I had had the foresight to carry a messanger bag. I grabbed a men's tee-shirt that covered a little more of my heinie (although had my company's logo on it, which was pretty embarrassing the entire way home) and then I spent my walk to the train/home making sure that the messanger bag was artfully placed directly over the giant hole in my most favorite pants.

...Which I'm still not going to throw away. Nope. You can't make me. They're getting washed now, I'll figure out what to do with them when they're clean. A pair of denim, assless chaps perhaps?!

gah

Dear Rachel,

Please stop buying jeans.

Love,
Your Wallet.

please

Will someone please, please buy me this shirt.

Anything with a Saved By The Bell tie-in is really the way to go.

Bad TV is my friend when I don't have a job

So I went into Express on Friday because I hadn't been in there in a while and I was in a "I should buy something for me because who else will" kind of mood and I saw this:



There is only ONE person in the whole entire world who can get away with wearing a crochet vest. And that is Leslie Burke from "Saved By the Bell: The College Years" (who isn't photographed on the internet anywhere) and she could only do it because it was the early 90's and she was supposed to be WASP-y.

In my desperate search for a picture of Leslie Burke (who has a real name but doesn't have enough cred for me to use it and for anyone to know who she is) I stumbled upon the imdb site for the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (and by stumbled upon I mean I put it in the search box because this morning in my semi-comatose state I ended up watching the first episode and laughing (on the inside, it was pretty early)) because there was a point in my life where I loved that show at about the same level I love the Housewives at (its not quite the weekly event as Grey's but its still to be celebrated). Any-WAY while noodling around seeing if anyone but Amy Jo Johnson had managed to parlay that pile of Japanese Recycled Poop into any sort of career and aparently the answer is a resounding "No!" and then I found out that the Yellow Ranger (and how fucked up is it that they made the Asian chick the Yellow Ranger?) died in 2001. Sad because I'm sure that in her obit it pretty much said, "The Asian chick who was on Power Rangers for one season died today."

In other news. Greys Anatomy (which is good tv, in case there was some confusion). I'm not gonna go into too much detail but the whole thing with George and Meredith?! Why nine times out of ten I don't tell people how I actually feel because no good is going to come from that pile of sex-mess. Also, while some of my friends are dirty Merediths and others are poor Georges, I think I've figured out that I'm a pre-doer Izzie. I would love to be a post-doer Izzie, but thats gonna take some time, mostly because I didn't have a bomb scare to jump start it. Also, I love Shonda Rhimes's post in the Writer's Blog to all the internet crazies who thought that maybe HotKyle hadn't died. It basically says "Stop being so weird and crazy, he's totally dead.

Just like the Yellow Ranger.

And the crochet vest.

Our Nationwide Nightmare is Over!

I found Reece's hearts! For those of you who live under concrete, the fine people at Hershey's now make Reece's Cups in various shapes for various holidays. If I am talking at you for long enough you will hear me sing the praises of these oversized kitchy chocolates because of the chocolate to peanut butter ratio that is so vastly increased in these seasonal pieces of heaven.

So, normally I stock up around the beginning of every retail heavy holiday (sadly there are no Labor day reece's cups) but for some reason I dropped the ball in mid-january when all the St. Valentine's Day stuff started hitting the shelves (I blame on the deep deep post-holiday-not-in-south-africa depression I had for most of the month of January, it was clouding my judgement, as was the artic temperature) so in the past few weeks I've started nosing around CVS and Duane Reade and there were NO heart shaped Reece's Cups. Obviously I was distraught, so I put a call into Teeny because retailers in Conneticut are much more civilized and would never run out of such a precious necessity. They had some, she stocked up for my up coming visit, but my ID was running rampant and was channeling Veruca Salt. I wanted those bitches, NOW. So today, with 4 hours of nothing to do and being stood up by Isabel I wandered into Walgreens...a pharmacy I don't normally go to only because I hate the voice of their commercials. And there they were! Individual and Packages. I've already eaten 2. They tasted like heaven. They are in a tie in the running for being my Valentine.

The other is obviously the Season 1 DVD of Grey's Anatomy which should be hitting a post office box near me on the 15th or 16th if Amazon keeps it's promise. I could not be more excited, especially after last nights episode which I almost didn't watch, but I wasn't gonna let a pesky college assignment stand in the way of a suffering Dr. McDreamy. Or a crying Bailey. Oh, god. Crying Bailey=Sobbing like a two year old Rachel.

In other news, I bought my very last school notebook, and yes, I cried a little. Its the end of an era people! I'm really picky about my notebooks and I was really upset when Target let me down and didn't have the one I wanted (5 subject five-star minibook, college ruled with a blue cover if you're playing along at home) but I got a purple 3 subject Target brand one which is pretty and shiny so distracts me from the fact that my last semester of college is starting without the right notebook and any clue about the rest of my life.

I also got an adorable skirt for Free People, A new hot pink comforter and a plane ticket to/from Chicago to help keep me from getting to depressed.

P.S. you can buy that sweet shirt at the top from Glarkware in the TWoP section. And you should because its Hawt.

Stay tuned for my review of the Diet Cherry Vanilla Coke that I bought this afternoon. If it doesn't put me in a diabetic coma.