Any Given Friday

Target on a Friday night. One of my favorite places to be.

Before I invested in a NetFlix membership I used to hit up Blockbuster. But then I realized that it's just depressing. If you want to know what all the single girls are doing on a Friday night (otherwise known as date night)... go check your local video store. I found my people. A bunch of chicks in sweats, fighting over the last copy of Under The Tuscan Sun or Love Actually. And to really drive home the gloom, the first time I went after the LCBU (life changing break-up) I realized I didn't even have my own video card any more. An unexpected reminder of how completely I had merged my life with someone. I think it's around that time I stopped renting movies. I'm convinced NetFlix was created by a girl who was dumped and realized she didn't want to face the shame of opening her own video rental account... again.

So... now that I've discovered NetFlix (the safe way to rent movies) I have a new favorite Friday night spot. Target. Retail therapy that serves a purpose. Instead of spending money on expensive stuff I don't need, now I can spend money on inexpensive stuff I don't need with a few practical items thrown in for good measure).

A recent Friday night at Target, my cart looked a little something like this at check out...

- Dog Food
- New socks
- Toilet Paper
- Cute apron on sale
- Diet Coke
- New LIVE John Legend cd (I don’t buy cd’s but this is only available in-store)
- Deodorant, body wash and tooth paste
- 3 boxes of cereal with sugar content well above what I was allowed as a child (mom your plan backfired... I'm working on making up for lost years with Fruity Pebbles)
- An array of items posing as an attempt to grocery shop without actually going to the "real" grocery store

The couple behind me...
- Bottled water
- A pint of ice cream
- Trail mix
- An energy bar
- A box of magnum condoms

SO. NOT. FAIR.

I guess now I should say Target on a Friday night USED to be my favorite place. I'm running out of options here people.

Soundtrack for Hibernating

I love mixed cd's. I love making them for myself and sharing them with others. Receiving them from friends. I think I do a pretty darn good job too. Over the years I've made a habit of creating soundtracks for different phases of my life... Happy Graduation, Tears, Get Over It, Dust Bunny Killers (for cleaning), Hello Stranger, Coffee House Blend, Summers 2002 - 2007, Feel the Burn, RoadTrip XYZ, Get it On, Angry Work Music, the list goes on and on and on... When I go back and listen to specific mixes I'm always surprised at what a reflection it is of my mindset at that point in time. A journal writen in someone elses words, but with my feelings behind it... and thank god someone else's voice!

I've also been accused of playing a song to death (ask any of my junior year roomates about Crazy - my apologoes AGAIN). As a result, many old favorites are an instant time warp machine back to a moment from my past. I've decided when I turn 30 I'm going to make a boxed set of greatest hits (and misses) from my 20's. Maybe I'll sell it online for 3 easy installments of $19.95 (I fell for that once. The cd's magically never appered on my doorstep. I'm pretty sure the mail lady at work was getting it on with my Smooth R&B as her background music).

So the most recent playlist that has been keeping me company (i.e. running on repeat day in and day out) while I hibernate looks a lil sometihng like this*...

Hibernation 08 (hopefully no versions '09 and '10)
Love Song - Sara Bareilles
The Fear You Won't Fall - Joshua Radin
Almost Lover - A Fine Frenzy
Slow Dance - John Legend
Fallin In Love With You - Josh Kelley
Say - John Mayer
Up to the Mountain - Patty Griffin
Lost - Micheal Buble
New Soul - Yael Naïm
Better That We Break - Maroon
Forgiveness - Patty Griffin

I have to say I'm kinda proud it isn't full of more depressing music. I'm a HUGE fan of depressing songs so this is actually fairly upbeat for the dead of an abnormally frosty winter. And by frosty I am referring to the temp and my mood.

*Not sure what the legalities are for sharing music so I've not included the ACTUAL songs here. Everything is available on iTunes.

Tim Riggins is a Stud

Clear eyes (or minds... I spent a long time debating this at the bar last night), full hearts, can't lose!

Everyone who watches it LOVES it and everyone who doesn't is missing out on the best show on television (with or without the writers strike).

People. Tim Rigins is not the only reason this show is fantastic (although his brooding, man-child hotness has kept me warm the past few lonely Friday nights). Coach Taylor makes McDreamy seemlike McWeenie! The many cowgirl hats Tammy Taylor wears as a REAL working mom with no nannies and fat checkbooks makes the chicks on Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle look like moronic spoiled bras and Tyra and Landry's sweet, but rocky relationship is better than any cheap reality show attempt to pair up geeks and hotties!

Please,please, please click the link above and let NBC know they MUST save this show!

Watch episodes online. You won't regret it...

Also... If the show is cancelled I have to start thinking of a new Halloween costume because no one will realize I'm a Dillon Panther's cheerleader!

Annual Valentine's Day Parade

It’s been a parade of florists here today.

Colorful bouquets as cheery and bright as any Rose Bowl celebration.

Last year my desk was one of the planned stops.

I had my very own fragrant surprise and sweet card.

By the following week he fell off the planet.

Into the abyss of relationships that ended Soprano’s style.

Just this past December I got an e-mail.

From his girlfriend of two years.

She had been putting it off for almost a year.

She figured something was up when her live-in boyfriend got a package of chocolates and a cd on Valentine’s Day.

Doesn’t take a team of detectives to figure that one out.

Apparently I was the dirty mistress and didn’t even know it.

God I hope she dumped him.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Come Fly The Friendly Skies

So I met a boy. On a plane. Just trying to get the home after a long week of work. I’m still trying to hibernate. A new crush was the furthest thing from my mind. I was focused on my iPod, my book and a few hours of mind numbing day dreaming. Instead this happened…

I was in a rush (I usually am. I’m Type A and as I’ve been told, most Type A’s run late because we constantly over estimate our ability to get things done). No time to finish breakfast before boarding my flight. I try to casually toss my cup of dry cereal into the trash as I breeze by with my hands full of coffee and luggage. I miss and my Kashi explodes into the air like healthy bits of breakfast confetti. He is unfortunate enough to be sitting too close to my missed target. Luckily he’s a good sport about my poor aim. I smile, giggle an apology and explain basketball was never my sport. Go figure he’s cute. Of course he is. If I’m embarrassing myself they usually are.

Fast forward 30 minutes (the flight was delayed AGAIN and I had no breakfast). I’m walking towards my seat and notice breakfast guy on my flight. He seems to be sitting awfully close to where I should be dumping my bag and vegging for the next few hours. I quickly realize he is in fact sitting not close, but right next to me. What are the chances? I spill cereal on a stranger in the airport and he ends up being my seatmate. Oh wait… my special super hero powers are working again. I’ve managed to shrink the world into my own small orbit. Ask E… happens all too often. I can never be anonymous. Or do something anonymous for that matter.

Too good to be true. It was dumped into my lap. Or at least into his.

Although our flight wasn’t taking off, we were hitting it off.

You realize who is writing this blog right? It’s never this cute and sweet. There is always a punch line.

He has a girlfriend. As E said “go f’ing figure. This ALWAYS happens to you.”

Cutie cereal guy with good jeans, who runs and travels and seems smart and fun and NORMAL… has a girlfriend. Oh and a little salt in the wound… me he met his previous girlfriend on a plane. I bet she didn’t spill her breakfast on him though.

I can tell I’m still blushing (I’m sure my neck was red too) for most of the first hour of easy conversation. Several weird coincidences and a few bad dating stories later, he asks if I’m seeing anyone. I decide to spare him the details of my hibernation and simply answer with a resounding no. Eventually he fishes around enough to discover I’m open to set-ups. Or at least open minded enough to consider them.

Next thing you know, I’ve given him my info and have agreed to let a stranger set me up on a blind date.

Hello double stranger danger! Will I ever learn my lesson? Is that that hard to just say no? Moral of this story is TBD.


*** Update – Airplane guy’s friend emailed. We went out. It was fun. Seeing him again. Tonight. Might be the strangest way I’ve gotten a date. And that’s saying A LOT. Stay tuned for the inevitable crash and burn.