Time for a Change

I decided to change up my look. I went over to Shabby Blogs and picked out some new elements. Thoughts? Concerns? Lewd remarks?

Things are changing around here, too. I'm finally getting recognition for something that I work very hard on at work (finally!). Gzilla is trying his hand at new and exciting things (please send lots of crossed fingers and mojo our way!!). And I just think that things are moving the way they should.

I'm still slightly panicked about Ireland (the flying, the getting lost, the not enough time) but I'm super excited! And I promise at least one Ireland recap post... and TONS of pictures. I'm most likely not going to post while I'm there, even though I will have internet access. Maybe a teaser post. We'll see.

We decided that we're doing The Dublin Pass which gets us access to a bunch of different Dublin attractions, including St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Guinness Storehouse, but most importantly, The Old Jameson Distillery. YEAH WHISKEY! And even though I'm not a fan of stout (though in my defense, the only stout I've had is one that is from New Jersey and brewed with OYSTERS. Talk about GROSS. Thanks, Jersey) I promise I WILL try Guinness. I also want to try a Guinness here first before I go over, because apparently they taste completely different.

We're also going to a play in Ireland. This is probably what I'm most excited about, because my favorite Shakespeare play OF ALL TIME is playing at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin. The Scottish Play. It's that play that you don't say outloud because bad things happen? But since I'm not speaking, I have no problem typing it. Macbeth. I LOVE THAT PLAY. I can't wait!

Seventeen.

I promise I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, things have just gotten a bit crazy at work! For four consecutive work-days (Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday) I had to be two people simultaneously, which is never fun. I really needed a drink after work yesterday, but unfortunately it was one of my other-work days so I didn't get home until 11. Boo hiss. But I did have TWO drinks Tuesday night at Quizzo (but only because the kitchen lost our order, so our server gave us a round)

The Ireland countdown is at 17 days. It seems like I just bought my ticket... and that was when the countdown was like 2 months! I can't believe that I'm just WEEKS away from leaving the country. WEEKS. I have luggage (thanks, Daddy Dearest) and I have new clothes (thanks, Urban Outfitters and Ann Taylor Loft). I don't have any travel-size items yet.

I have no idea what I'll be doing once I'm over there. My friend that I'm visiting doesn't know her work schedule yet, but there will be a few days I'm there that she'll have to work. I don't want to just sit around while she's serving beer to the locals (how boring!) but I have no idea what to do!! I won't be in Dublin... we're going to be a little further inland. And a little more rural (I think).

The one thing I know I WILL be doing is Thursday of the week I'm there, I'll be calling the radio station from a pub. We do a segment on our AM station called "Thirsty Thursday" (real original, I know, but it isn't my show, so.) where we taste-test beer on the air (my job is so hard). When I told them I was going to Ireland, I immediately saw the glimmer of an idea in their eye, and I agreed to call the station during the Thirsty Thursday segment. And since my friend works at a pub, that's where we'll be! Everyone over there loves her, so if she tells them to participate with what I say, they totally will. I hope it goes okay. There's going to be a bit of a delay because of the overseas-ness of it all.

I'm starting to get really pumped, though!! We finally figured out how I'm getting to the airport. And I need to get myself some Unisom so I SLEEP on the plane, since I'll be landing at 2am for me, but it's really 7am where I am? So I'll be ASLEEP on that 7 hour flight thankyouverymuch. I'm still a little terrified of flying. Not so much the plane crashing-part, but more the I get lost in the airport and get stuck there for a week part? Yeah.

Breaking up is hard to do.

Not with Gzilla. Don't worry. With my hairstylist.

Two years ago, I had a horrific haircut. I have wavy/curly hair. A lot of it. If my hair is too short, I look like a boy. I mostly have long hair. But after 8-12 years of never being allowed to cut it (because of theatre) I rebelled, and chopped my long hair up above my shoulders (gasp!). Then after 4 years of the same haircut, I got tired of it. I went to a really fancy schmancy salon here, asked for their curly-hair specialist, and paid $75 for a haircut.

I know.

If there is one thing you don't do with curly hair, or even very thick hair for that matter, you don't razor cut it. What does this "curly hair specialist" do? Razors my hair. It's been 2 years. You'd think that my hair would grow out by now, but it hasn't. This could partly be because of my current stylist.

It all started with that Keratin treatment. I ended up having the salon manager at my place of business cut my hair. Then we had this "free haircut" thing where we had to get one of 3 haircuts. And the one was really cute, so she did my hair with that one. Except it looked nothing like it, and I have no idea wtf she did to my hair. In fact, you know that current popular bob style where it's way shorter in the back than it is in the front? Okay, picture that... except now picture long layers UNDER the bob. Doesn't work right? It doesn't work on my head either.

WHAT THE HELL? I have this weird shelf on my hair right at my ears. You know, where my hair is most POOFY. I had this one amazing cut by my friend's wife, and I think I'm going to go back to her. She's fabulous. Except I don't get discounted haircuts and color there, because I don't work there. So I need to shell out a bit more for cuts & color now (boo). But how do I break up with my current stylist? It's not like I can just never go back. I WORK THERE. And she can be mean.

Get me out of this funky town.

I'm feeling very "woe is me" today. I'm running on maybe 3 hours of sleep. I haven't seen Gzilla in two days, pretty much. Wednesday night he saw a concert in Baltimore with his best friend, and last night I had a shopping date with becklette while he was at a friend's house. As soon as he got home, we went immediately into epic battle. It's not something I want to get all into at the moment (no it wasn't the big marriage fight again) but today I'm all puffy and can barely keep my eyes open.

It doesn't help that it's been 90 degrees here in April (wtf.) and everything is in full bloom, meaning my allergies are on overload. Plus, I started allergy shots this week, so Wednesday I was injected with everything I'm allergic to. I can't tell if I'm puffy from allergies or from crying. Or both. Probably both. I'll blame it on allergies.

But now I am emotionally drained. I want to just go back to bed, and watch bad movies. I feel like a horrible person, a failure, and I don't know what to do to snap out of it. Even the super cute ATL tops and capri jeans and my new sheep pajamas can't bring me out of this horrible feeling. I also have to work at my second job tonight, so I have another 14 hour day today. At least I can sleep in tomorrow? But then we're going to a friend's house and I have to pretend like everything is wonderful and I'm not terrified that one day I'll be homeless because Gzilla kicked me out.

But I have so much stuff!!!

I did some reading on TSA's website, and also for the website of the airline that I'm taking across the pond (IN 33 DAYS!!!!) and I'm starting to get nervous. They don't charge for the first checked bag (good) but they do for a second bag (that's okay, I think.) but it has to be a certain dimension... it can't be above a certain weight.... I don't own a scale. How the hell am I supposed to know if I packed too much crap!

And! All my toiletries must fit in a clear bag 8.5" by 11"? I'm sorry.... have you SEEN my bathroom? I use a variety of face washes, makeup remover, a serum, moisturizer, eye cream, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and I'm sure I've forgotten something....and you expect me to fit this into something the size of a piece of paper? HA!!!

I'm also worried about my knitting. I think I've decided that going over, I don't want to work on a project on the plane because I WANT TO SLEEP (unisom, be my friend). I leave at 7pm, and land at 7am... but it'll still be 2am at home. Seven hour flight, 5 hour time difference. So I figure if I sleep for 7 hours on the plane... I'll be good to go. I'm also afraid that they'll take my knitting! While knitting needles are TSA approved, there are many a story of projects being confiscated. There is even this facebook group called "Is this your knitting?" of a very nice person who found this lovely half-knitted sweater in the lost-and-found at an Alabama airport, and is trying to use the power of the internets and ravelry to find its owner. What if that happened to me? That would suck! I would cry! So methinks I will check a bag (since I get one free--yay!) and put my knitting in there. I'll probably still have a carry-on bag (probably my Namaste Hermosa Bag which is the LARGEST KNITTING BAG/PURSE EVER.

I am a bit nervous about flying, though...

So you had a bad day...

I had an epicly bad day yesterday. I'll spare you the badness of my day, but just know that it made me cry more than a few times. And computers hated me yesterday.

To combat my bad day, I decided to blast the soundtrack for 9 to 5 the musical and sing really loud. This may not have been the best of ideas that I had (since my bad day was work related). The lyrics? I'm gonna shine like the sun, let these clouds roll away from my door. When it's all said and done I won't be at your mercy no more. I am taking what's mine; I'll be fine. I am second to none. And when the losing's all done, I'm gonna shine like the sun. Which made me SOB like a child. The next song I listened to? is basically about how the things in your life are going to suck unless you change them. Which made me cry harder. While I'm driving.

I didn't have time to relax when I got home, because we immediately went out to meet Gzilla's parents for dinner. It was one of those 20% of your dinner goes to charity things, and it was my friend's company's fundraiser, so we went. Alcohol was needed. After a pretty good glass of chianti, some cheesy stromboli, and the best part of it all, homemade GELATO (apple. pie. gelato. omb.) I was starting to feel better.

Normally when I have a sucktastic day, I listen to sad music. Apparently this doesn't work anymore. Apparently what works is wine, gelato, and sitcoms. I went home and watch the two-week old episodes of How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory... and laughed so hard I cried. And THEN I felt better, finally.

What's your bad-day remedy?