Miscellaneous thoughts for a Wednesday afternoon.

1. I can't handle crazy people.

2. This website cracks me up -- who doesn't feel like they could start their own blog of this nature? www.myhusbandisannoying.com (love you, Bri)

3. I thoroughly enjoy having heart-to-hearts with friends. I crave it sometimes.... neigh, often. It makes me feel like a good friend to be entrusted with intimate details and listen while they talk things out. I love my friends and like feeling close to them.

4. I just caught up with episodes of GLEE and totally love it. If you haven't watched it yet, check out the pilot episode on hulu.

5. It's time for me to leave work! Hooray!

Finally.

I have officially secured funding for my entire Aveda Institute tuition.



So suck it, Financial Aid process.

As it should be.

Financial Aid is frickin' difficult. The process is complicated, confusing, and *just for amusement* a pain in the ass. Here's my latest:


Aveda: Go to this website and apply for your Stafford Loan.

Stafford site: Sign your loan with your handy dandy PIN.

Me: <<enters PIN>> Huh, this was *surprisingly* easy.

Stafford site: Oh shoot, your last name on your App and your last name on your PIN don't match. Go apply for a new PIN.

Me: Futher muckers.

PIN site: I will fuck your shit up.

Me: Yeah, I know...

PIN site: Click here to apply for a PIN.... fill in all this information... and this... enter your SSN 6 times... oh wait, it looks like you already have a PIN. You can't do this then. Sorry!

Me: So.... ok back to main menu, how about Update PIN info...

PIN site: Thanks for coming in to update! Change anything but your last name and SSN!

Me: BALLS.

PIN site: If you want to change your name, you'll have to update it with the Social Security Administration. Then after you do that, you'll see rainbows and fairies and puppies and ice cream!! And we'll give you a LOAN! Hooray!!!

Me: .....I did that in JANUARY...

.....

So then, I decide mayhaps I should email their customer service peeps to see what the fug is up. And I get copy & pasted responses THREE SEPARATE TIMES telling me to apply for a new PIN. APPLY FOR A NEW PIN they say.... sheesh, what a clever idea except it's NOTFUCKINGWORKINGSGSHDKFJHKSDF.

::::shoots self in face::::

Back in action.

After a nice lonnng weekend, an adventure to Chicago and a crazy return back to work, I am here. Have thought a few times about blogging, but I'm not entirely sure that I have a true theme for this post.... it might be one of those boring life updates where I tell you about the lame minutae of my days and "this is what I ate for breakfast kind of crap." Lucky you.

But, in actuality, it's just going to be this teaser of a post. Things are just nuts here and I can barely formulate a thought, and those I can muster up are to be used for figuring out my financials for school.

Did you know I go to Orientation in TWENTY days?!? omg. And school starts a week after that! Craziness!

HHH.

I'm here at the MSP airport typey typing on my Blackberry. I don't usually utilize my phone like this because... I'm not sure why not. I think it costs me everytime I use the interwebz, and I pay a bajilliondy dollars to begin with, but hey I'd pay as much or more for an Us Weekly, so there.

If you're unawares, I'm heading off for a long-overdue trip to Chicago to visit friends Kelly and Dana. I've only been "hoping" to visit since we parted ways from Drake 7 years ago... Well, they moved to Chicago post-grad in 05.

So anyway, I've sadly never been to Chicago. I'm a bit of a homebody, if you didn't know, and haven't done nearly enough adventuring. I hate the assumptions people make about those who are not well-traveled.... Like I'm some kind of Midwestern country bumpkin. Hrmphf. I've been to Europe, bitches, leave me alone! (Granted I was 17 and had my entire trip planned out for me...)

Anywhodiddles, I best be finishing my cold press so I can mosey to my terminal.

:::looks at clock:::

I have 50 minutes before scheduled departure. Perhaps you'll see a second Post in a bit...

OK byeeeee

Ask, and ye shall receive.

Dammmmn, I'm on a roll! Three in 24 hours? Awesome. And just watch, I'll stop then for like two weeks. Hehhh.

Did you know that I'm off to CHICAGO tomorrow? Yep! TOMORROW!!!!! I haven't even started packing. Whoops. But I'm going to visit old friends, and while they're very cool and stylish, I'm sure they won't mind if I look like normal old me ;-)

I'll be visiting Kelly and Dana, college friends from yesteryear. Kelly lives in Lincoln Park, with her fluffy kitty Zek and her pup Drake (clever, yes?) - I'm looking forward to simple moments of sitting on the couch laughing and chatting, and of course looking forward to exploring Chi-town, USA.

Any of you have favorite places in Chicago? I'm thinking I might need to see their M.A.C store!

Kelly is also super fashion gal. I'm going to feel like a total slob standing next to her, but that's okay! I figure I'll just do awesome makeup to compensate. And speaking of fashion, how great are these adorable booties???

All in all, I'm really excited for the trip and surprisingly not anxious or nervous like I normally would be. I know these girls will make me feel right at home :-)

Now.... off to the ATM for some spending money!! Teeheehee...

That felt good. How about another?

I enjoy writing. And I also enjoy communicating with people. So it's safe to assume that I enjoy blogging. Although they say that "assumptions make an ASS out of U and .... MPTION" (?), in this case it is truth.

Now, it's no secret, however, that I struggle from time to time with nailing down a topic or really committing to a post. I'll start writing something and whaddya know, I'll drift away (mentally or otherwise) never to return again. Sighhhhh. I blame ADHD. And a lot of blinky lights and move-y things in our house. OK not really, but sometimes the TV is on, and damn that Brian for trying to talk to me while I'm on the computer! Oh and those very very few occasions that I try to bust out a post while at work. It's hard to allow free flowing thought while minimizing your window every 90-120 seconds. (They're watching meeee!)

OK, so there's a relatively interesting intro.... now what? Do I tell you about my awesome writing skillz? Or about my long struggle with ADHD and how it's BLINKY LIGHT!

I'm sorry, where was I....

Nah, I think for now I'll really just ramble a bit until I decide that my eyes are too blurry to see through and I best be getting to bed so I can more easily drag my butt out of bed tomorrow. Did you know that I am sooooooososososo not a morning person? Ask my husband. And my mom.

I get a good amount of motivation to post knowing that others are checking. I don't know how often you check or who you are always, but toss up a comment so I know I'm not writing to dead air space. I find that readers make me feel a bit more accountable for providing entertainment. I make no guarantees that the posts are, in fact, entertaining, but at least I'll typey type out a few coherent thoughts and hit the post button. (Ahh if only it were that simple.)

Speaking of ADHD and typey type, have you tried Twitter? It's like blogging for the ADHD mind -- short form, one sentence, here's my thought, annnnnd DONE. You can do it once a day or once every 30 minutes, depending on how many thoughts you have circling your brain. And NO, it's not like FB status updates where you merely tell people what you're doing at any given time... it's more like the "other" updates where you say interesting things like "Rachel Zoe is totally bananas, but needs to eat, you know, cheeseburgers" and "Would you rather be the top scientist in your field, or have mad cow?"

So I guess what I'm saying is that my blog will be about everything, and yet nothing. Whoa. <--Keanu-style

OK byeeeeeeee.
_____________________________

OMG UPDATE: I tried to post this and it went all FAIL on me and I thought I'd lost the WHOLE THING (which is like, crazy bad, because this was the prologue to my autobiography), and I was about to say "f_ck this sh_t, I'm never f__ing blogging again because this is clearly a sign from GOD that it's not meant to be, and my career as a blogger/writer is over!!!" and then throw my computer down and go wash my face and brush my teeth and get ready for bed. Booyah.

But it turns out it's okay! I'm gonna copy this before I try hitting "publish post" again..... juuuust incase.

If this post and I don't make it thru the night..... come find me on twitter.

Hmmm.... which is best?

So here's a question only you fine folks can help me answer....

When I'm in school, after I've completed the "alpha phase" (first 16 weeks), we have the option of going to the second shift, meaning M-F from 12noon to 9pm. This would be instead of the Tu-Sat 8:30 to 5pm "standard" schedule. I honestly don't know which one I'm leaning towards....

Initially, I'm tempted to say the second shift: I'd have my Saturdays free! But the thought of losing ALL my weeknights is a bit displeasing.... and honestly, would I really get ANYTHING done between waking and starting school at noon? Unless you call getting up at 9:30am, surfing the internet, watching "10 Years Younger" on TLC and putting on makeup for a good hour "getting something done." My guess is no.

The other part to this pros v cons conundrum is a big motivator: TIPS. When you're a student at Aveda and performing services on client on the floor, you don't get any part of the flat cost, but the tips are allll yours to keep... !! That means I'm making money while in school..... to pay off my student loans of course ;-) Seriously though, do you think I'd be more successful with 5 weekday evenings, or 4 weekdays and a FULL Saturday? My inkling is toward the former, but perhaps I underestimate the power of a weekday.

Thoughts of the two options swirl around my head.

While I'm tempted by the 12-9 M-F, I honestly feel the original schedule is the better choice. It offers me weeknights (to spend time with my hubs, part time job, etc.), gets me out of bed to have a full and effective day, allows me to keep my Friday evenings, still gives me Saturday evenings and Sundays, AND I'll get full Mondays with which I may do whatever I please (exciting things like doctor/dentist appts and trips to the DMV! Hooray!).

What do you think sounds like the better option? Share your thoughts with the group?

Why hello again, 18. And hey there, 27.

My skin is breaking out like MAD this past week!!! Horomones are apparently fluctuating, and I think I'm wearing my fair food on my face.... :-/ BOO! It's definitely a hinderance on my birthday week joy. I feel like a slimey greaseball and I HATE that feeling. Add that on to the warmer temps and lack of A/C at home and suddenly I'm a sweaty slimey greaseball. Yay me.

So, I've been debating what kind of present I might want from my hubby. Essentially, since we're getting tight on funds before school and since we share all funds he just asks what I want and gets it for me! I'm 50% "yay present!" and 50% "ehh that money could be better utilized..."

This is what I was touching on last post when I said that I'm caught between practicality and frivolity.... do I get something practical like comfy nice black close-toed shoes that I'll wear daily for school? Or something more fun like the home decor items that I'd picked out from Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware? OR, I could go entirely practical and tell him to transfer $100 to savings and skip the gift stuff altogether.

What might these two things have to do with one another? I ventured to Sephora tonight in the hopes of utilizing my 10% off Beauty Insider VIB coupon, spending my $20 giftcard (thanks to the Rohnes) and finding some sort of skin product that would make me feel fab. Well, wouldn't you know there was an Esthetician from MD Skincare right there in the store :-) I walked away with this cleanser and this peel system thanks to my lovely husband and his birthday gift to me -- shopping :-)

Wish me luck! I'll let you know how it goes!!

Hey, turns out you're reading this!

Not sure who you are, though. Just saw on my google analytics that you're here -- some directly, some from emailing links in gmail, some from who knows where. But the good part is that you're here.

A few things:
1. I saw the Green Durango in it's usual parking spot a few weeks ago..... I shook my head.
2. School starts six weeks from yesterday and I'm freaking a bit. Trying to get loans and such in order while also maintaining some sanity.
3. My birthday is Friday and... well... I just don't feel it. This week is a bit stressful, after all. But still.... sad face at you, 27 :-(
4. The combination of financial anxiety before school and my birthday makes for a hard choice between practicality and frivolity. I try to strike a balance, but it's harrrrrrrrd. Especially considering I've been searcing websites and picking out things I love but can't have. Namely house decor and the like. Sighhhh.

OK, I'm about to crash sitting here in the recliner. Ta ta, lovely friends!