Just Get It

Famous words of the husband when I called him at work to say, "so there are really only two phones to choose from.....unless I get a smart phone. Can I get an iphone?"

And I did.

And 4 hours later I began to feel buyers remorse. I tend to be super cheap about certain things. I will go weeks and weeks without spending much money on myself, and then the next thing you know, I'm buying $150 swimsuits, traveling to Miami Beach, and buying an iPhone (which is not only $$$ but means you have to spend $30 more each month for a data plan).

And silly me, I didn't realize that 1052 songs would take up nearly all 16GB!

But let's be fair for a moment. Last week, my phone became possessed; the touch screen wouldn't work and when I was just holding the phone flat, random 'buttons' on the touch screen would appear to be pushed by some other unseen being or spirit. Eventually the touch screen went completely dead, and in order for me to use the phone in any way (to make or answer calls, set the alarm, etc), I would have to OPEN the phone, dial out, and then carefully close the phone and hope that I was not hanging up on anyone. Clearly, I 'needed' a new phone, and it had to be an iphone.

ugh. I am officially a modern day yuppie: expensive taste (trina turk swimwear-you rock), Nikon dSLr camera owner, foodie, kindle loving, iphone owning 31 year old in a DINK marriage.

moving on.....

The trip to SoFla was great. Either I'm getting older and my taste is running on the more conservative side, or people now take their 'fashion' ideas from Jersey Shore (it was a birthday weekend treat-ugh, 31, you just look so old. Much more serious than 30). There were so many spring-breakers, and with that, so many short, tight, and cheap cheap cheap looking clothes. I think sexy can be done without showing or pulling a britney.

I ate a lot of food that weekend and drank even more cuban coffee. My dear friend treated us all to mini-cupcakes at what we thought would be an outdoor mini-concert, but was really a $2.50 per ticket 30 minute mini-concert inside a new performance space for the New World. If you're in the south Florida area, you'd be a fool to pass up the mini-concerts or FREE outdoor concert wallcasts. (the sound and feel of the music indoors was pretty amazing too!)

We ran along the beach twice and had our photos taken by two men with telescopic paparazzi like cameras. I'm sure once they looked at the images and realized we were not anyone remotely famous they deleted the shots. Either that or we're on some TMZ-like celebrity stalker site. (but seriously why they bothered to shoot us beats me...if I was worthy of a paparazzi shot I would probably wear a hat, glasses, etc.)

Speaking of running....seems like I've been falling of the band wagon and need to print out a training plan to keep me on track. I'm not putting the amount of miles that I would like; especially if I'm going to have to start training for chicago soon. for the first time in a few weeks I was able to join the Thursday night runners and made the mistake of talking to Val just before the run. Which meant I started running with Val. Val who qualifies for Boston on the new time scale. We call each other the road hogs, and I tend to start with tail hogs (ie, the back). Yesterday I started with the people I call the head hogs.

Mile 1: 8:10. Eeks. Fast for me

Mile 2: 8:03. uh, I have three more to go?! and a bridge?!

Just beyond the 3 mile mark is a 4 lane road to cross and I had to stop for a second to avoid being roadkill a la Frogger. And that's where I completely lost it. I tried for a bit to catch up and run with the group, but at mile 4, I lost all drive and chilled at a 9:18 pace.

Total time: 42:38; 8:32 pace

Clearly I didn't stretch and am feeling it now, but the beer and greasy pizza afterwords was so worth it (look at the twitter stream for a picture....speaking of which, how can I upload the pictures on twitter to the blog??)

Today's plan: clean the house, hopefully re-discover the gym and its medieval looking weight machines, and tonight we'll have the neighbors over for dinner before a 3 day marathon weekend at work.

To Do

1. get off this chair and go for a short run. First one in a week. blah. this week's work schedule stinks...plus getting sick earlier in the week and the bad weather didn't help (i know, excuses excuses).

2. go to the mall and try. on. swimsuits. And find one to buy!

Ugh. I don't remember the last time I tried on swim suits. I've had the same swim suits for at least 7 years (there are pictures from our time in SC). And our shopping selection in these parts are slim pickings, so wish me luck! The mall here has an overwhelming stench of mold & mildew and you can feel the vibrations of the air conditioner running. Classy :)

Bullets

Today's blog is in bullet form (because I'm just too lazy to write coherent sentences)

• It snowed here a couple of times this past week. That's two times too many.


• I ran 3 miles today with hubby and I'm so happy he helped me get back out there (of course it doesn't hurt that the winds were only at 6mph instead of the 18 mph we tend to have...)


• I had a GREAT med/surg 2 rotation. My instructor was witty, sarcastic, and sassy without coming across mean or vicious. That said, this med/surg rotation left me thinking a lot about health care in America. One of these days I will organize my thoughts and explain...


• We spent part of the weekend at the King of Prussia mall. I finally broke down and am getting a North Face jacket for the holidays. Black, waterproof, ending just above the knee with a zipper and belted waist, it's sporty and feminine. And better keep me warm (especially for the price, although the jacket was an unheard of 40% off at Nordstrom)! I'm beginning to wonder if I hate winter because I don't have appropriate clothing. PS....King of Prussia mall has the best Nordstrom with the best sales. It's the second year in a row that I've gotten something sweet, luxurious, classic, yet trendy for a reasonable price.


• The Lucky Store. I've never purchased anything from the actual Lucky store (too pricey), but a few years ago I purchased a pair of peace earrings from Belk (the earrings are Lucky brand). Using a Belk coupon with a sale, I got the earrings for yet another ridiculously low price. For some reason this past weekend, I wanted to go into the Lucky store. Bad idea. I found a purse that I can't forget about.

I have thought of this bag every day hour since I saw it (yesterday). Here's the deal with me and bags: I rarely buy them. I'm using a used bag right now because my brown bag (which was a holiday present 2 years ago) broke. The bag before that was again, 2 or 3 years old and cost less than $100. I'm not the type to buy a new bag every couple of months or for every season. So part of me says that the bag is a definite buy. Scratch that. I KNOW the bag is a definite buy. It's just that it's $268 ($267 on Zappos) and I don't have a job yet (oh, please won't someone offer me a job??). I tried explaining to the hubs that that if I used this bag every day (which is reasonable when you think that I've used the same bag for 2 years straight), the cost per wear is less than a dollar a day! A serious bargain!!

• final bullet: I need to study for tomorrow's exam. please please please send well wishes that I get this bag do well on my exam. I really need the good vibes!

Thrifted

This trip seems SO like it was so much longer than just two weeks ago.

The weekend was FULL of food. When I returned home, I felt, and looked 4 months pregnant.

We were the first people seated at my new favorite italian restaurant-it was 5pm...(I only had two mini-cupcakes for lunch). The name of the dish? can't remember, but it was egg noodles, shrimp, cabbage, and sheeps cheese. you're probably going, "EW" but honestly, it was delicious. I'm kind of craving it right now, in the middle of the afternoon.

Then we had tiramisu. and cappuccino. yum.

The next night's dinner was a pastrami on rye. PLUS a side of latkas, aka potato pancakes with apple sauce. Followed by a trip to Za.bars for rugalah. Yeah, it was gluttonous.

But the shopping! I wish I could say I did soho, S5A, BG, & HB, but the funds are low (one income + tuition) so we hit two of the better Goodwills in the city.

And I hit the jackpot.


Here's a picture of the find of 2008:

CHERRY RED 100% leather pants by THEORY in MY size!

(I should mention that I also have a pair of BLACK leather INC pants from a Goodwill in Charleston...but they were made for someone who is 6 ft tall)

I wish I could meet the previous owner and take a peek into their closet. and when she wasn't looking, I would put everything on and run out of her apartment.

True to my form, I wore them to the airport to pick up Ryan. very spiffy with sleek black tee and black ballet flats.

Other finds: Sisley (!) white crocheted top, D&G striped sweater (I saw D&G pink pants, too, but didn't get them), and black and white HIGH waisted and wide legged pants. I know skinny is in, but I hate skinny pants and feel like my butt is wider than a Chev-Suburban when in skinny pants.

Oh. And did I mention the red leather theory pants that fit me so well only cost $24? H&M, you have nothing on me!

Internet Shopping

I think I might need to order one of these...

Renoir & the King of Prussia

Last night, Ryan and I hastly ordered tickets to the Renoir Landscapes exhibit at the Philly Museum of Art. If you're in the area, I definitely recommend buying tickets, pricey, but if manage to schedule the exhibit on a day with a lecture, you can make it a bargain.

There must have been at least 40 works of Renoirs-the exhibit started kind of slow with some history, but it kept getting better to the point that Ryan and I were looking at paintings and saying, "Oh, Wow." The man was a genius.

Little known fact: Towards the last 15 years of his life, Renoir suffered from rheumatoid arthritis so severely that family members and assistants had to literally fix the brushers to his hands in order to continue painting (the more I think about this, i remember learning about rheumatoid arthritis & the development of Herbedeen's (sp) nodes that develop on the fingers..very painful.)

"Bend something or other" -Renoir...this painting wasn't part of the exhibit, but WAS in the museum.

Some more from the Philadelphia Museum of Art:

AFTER the museum though was King of Prussia. King of Prussia was a mall I first learned about when I originally began my subscription to Vogue: late middle/early high school (style-nerd). I always figured it was right up there with Bal Harbour & Rodeo Drive.

King of Prussia mall is really TWO malls connectd by a covered walkway. Two Macys (one for each portion of the mall). Two Teavanas. Two Starbucks. Hermes (!!), Furla (!), Bloomingdales, Needless Markup Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom (!), Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, WILLIAMS SONOMA HOME, Ethan Allen, Urban Outfitters, etc.

I didn't hit all the stores...we only had about 2 hours to eat, tour and "shop" before heading back home for the Gator Game (which I should be watching, but after last week's game, and the Yankees games, I'm obviously bad luck for favorite teams). I never found Williams Sonoma Home, but I KNOW it's there. The mall has it's own map and nice little old men to serve as 'docents' if needed (ok, not docents. guides to help if you get lost).

Oh, and as for Macy's? (the only department store we went in due to time) Let's just say Ryan is in trouble (as if you haven't already figure that out...)