Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Questioning My Fashion

First let me preface this post by saying that I generally feel very confident in my fashion choices.  I kind of pride myself on being appropriately dressed for whatever the occasion dictates.  I know that I don't have the best or the most expensive or the trendiest clothes, but I think I generally look good and fashionable.

I recently attended two different events to which I wore the same dress.  A photo taken at the second event shows the dress I wore - a black and white cotton print, fit and flare, knee-length dress by Ralph Lauren.  It has a self-tie belt and fun pockets.  Though the picture below isn't the best, it's a really flattering dress and I've gotten a ton of compliments on it.  When I found it, I had no event to wear it to, but I absolutely loved it, so I bought it anyway.


The first event I wore this to was an anniversary party for my cousin's boyfriend's company.  (Whoa, that was long winded!)  I wore it with very simple kitten heel sandals.  I was dressed completely WRONG!  The girls who were there were some of the trendiest dressed girls I have seen in a long time.  Super trendy clothes, purses, and shoes.  Every part of my outfit was too subtle, not trendy enough, BORING!!!  Even the guys there were seriously Euro-trendy, wearing skinny jeans, deep v-neck tees, and pointy shoes.

The second event I wore this to was a Design Council party on the rooftop of the Art Museum residences.  This time I dressed up my shoes just a bit to simple black pumps from Coach.  Not trendy by any means, but beautiful and timeless.  At this event, I felt appropriately dressed.  As you can see from the photo, some people were similarly attired, though some were fancier.  Some were dressed much more casually, too.  This time my shoes were the thing that stuck out.  They were much too simple.  Most of the other women had trendy wedges, platforms, booties, or funky sandals.  It made me want to update my shoe wardrobe - IMMEDIATELY!

Though I can't (and don't really want to) do anything about the trendy clothing, I can do something about the shoes!  I went to DSW this weekend on a quest for new, trendy shoes.  I didn't do too well.  :)  I only got one pair of totally trendy shoes.  They are fabulous peep toe booties with hella high heels and a front platform.  They're black leather with trapunto stitching.  So much fun!!!  But the other three pairs I got are much more refined and classic.  They are all peep toes, though, so I guess I had a theme going.

 Maybe I'm too old to have too much trendy stuff in my wardrobe?

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Week of Annoyances

For some reason, there were many things that really annoyed me this week.  Here are some of them, in no particular order:

1.  People who ride their bikes on incredibly busy traffic streets where there is no bike lane.   
So there I am, driving down Downing along Wash Park in rush hour.  It's always kind of a cluster fuck along this strip because of everybody parking, the drivers people watching, cars turning without a turn lane, and all the pedestrians.  But then imagine a not-experienced bike rider riding along on the street.  Not twenty feet away on the bike path in the park, but in the street.  This is really not a good idea.  Passing her was a bitch once, but then any time traffic stopped for a turner or a light, she would pass all of us again and then we'd be stuck behind her again.  At one light, I stopped really far to the right so that she wouldn't be able to pass us again, but somehow she still managed to get past.  UGGHH!

2.  Contractors who don't come to the job site when they say they will.
My boss was in Dallas this week for an install.  I had scheduled various contractors to be on-site to do their various jobs.  Half of them didn't come when they said they would, screwing up getting the project done.  My boss makes it seem like it's my fault somehow.  Right, like I can control somebody in Dallas who I've never met.  For example, the wallpaper installer was supposed to be on-site Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The guy was there on Tuesday doing prep work.  But then nobody came by on Wednesday.  When we called the company, they said they got backed up on another job and wouldn't be able to have somebody there that day.  They would make it up by having three installers there on Thursday.  Irritating but okay.  By mid-day on Thursday, nobody had shown up yet.  Calling the company resulted in more excuses.  Nobody ever came by on Thursday.  Friday, finally an installer finally showed up.  But only one.  Until John sent a scathing email to the company and the clients.  Another installer came later, but not the three installers that we were promised.  So irritating!

3.  Finding out that somebodies excuse for not attending an event was a total lie.
This explanation is going to be a little cryptic, sorry!  Recently some friends gave an excuse for not attending a big event that seemed totally legitimate.  They had something else coming up that was really big and couldn't afford the time or money that this event would cost them.  It made total sense.  But then I found out that they did something else during this time that totally negated their reasoning for not attending the big event!  It is so irritating.  Don't lie about something when your lie will be totally obvious to those you lied to!

4.  Parking.
I have always been a bit of a parking nazi.  When I lived in Capital Hill, I was constantly irritated with the way people would parallel park on the streets near my apartment.  I mean, really, parking was at a premium down there, so you had to park really tight.  This week, parking has been a bit of an annoyance.  At my current apartment, though I now have a lot to park in, space is still at a bit of a premium.  Especially if anybody has people over.  Mid-week one of my neighbors had a few friends over.  Really I think she was attempting to see how many people could fit in her apartment.  It was packed!  Therefore our lot was packed.  When I came home at 8pm there was not a parking space for four buildings.  I ended up parking in a no-parking zone.  Nice.  The other parking related item is an on-going annoyance.  My office is now at my bosses house.  We park on the street outside his house.  He lives on a corner and his neighbor around the corner and on the other side of the house, for some reason, always parks in front of his house.  But not only her, her nurse parks there, her guests park there.  Everybody who visits her house parks there.  She has a driveway.  You can park on the street in front of her house.  Why do they all insist on parking over here?  When I come to work, I have to park halfway down the block because of them.  It's annoying.  And I know it annoys my boss, too.

Hopefully this week will be much better!  Thanks for letting me vent!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Visiting Mecca - I Mean Ikea



I was so super excited for Ikea to finally open a store here in Colorado.  It felt like it took forever for them to build the blue and yellow monstrosity down near Park Meadows Mall, but actually it went pretty quickly.  I never planned to go right when they opened; I knew I wanted to wait a while for the crowds to die down.  But I don't know that the crowds are ever actually going to die down.  Why I need to go - I rearranged my guest room and now have room for a small desk, so I found one in Ikea's catalog.  And of course I need all the fun organizing accoutrements to go with the desk, too, like a wall shelf, a metal rod that stuff hangs off of, and a magnetic strip with little containers for paperclips, etc.  Eventually I'm also going to replace the bookshelves in there as well so everything can match.  And I'm going to get a new cocktail table and end table for my living room.  But first I need Michelle & Russ to have their garage sale so that I have somewhere to get rid of the existing stuff.

I finally got down there yesterday.  I thought that if I went at "dinner time" there would be less families crowding the place, but boy was I wrong!  First you encounter the police and traffic directors directing everybody to a place to park.  I was shocked that they were still doing this.  Honestly, I think things would go more smoothly without them.  For example, when I left, I didn't want to go north to Dry Creek.  I wanted to go south to County Line because I wanted to go to Chick-fil-A while I was in the suburbs.  But they wouldn't allow any cars to go south and because of that, Chick-fil-A didn't get my business and now it's Sunday and they're not open!  But I digress.

I go to the lot I'm directed to without realizing how far away from the entrance it is.  I hike up the hill and across the street, entering the main Ikea lot at the back.  There are no helpful signs directing us poor walking folks where to go from here.  So I just start following a woman and her two kids.  She probably thought I was a stalker.  Finally after going down a level and walking for like a mile, I see the entrance signs!  YAY!  Up two levels and we're there!

Now, I must say that I've been to an Ikea before.  With Kristen in Portland.  So I was familiar with the drill already.  But obviously most people don't understand it and there were very few Ikea personnel near the door to explain to people that it's not necessary to get a cart now.  Don't worry.  Just pick up a bag, a pencil, and a map and you'll be good.  It was kind of a cluster-fuck.

I also did my  homework before I went because I recently got a catalog in the mail.  I pretty much knew exactly what I wanted and knew which areas I would find the items in.  I didn't need to browse through each display to check everything out.  Which is good because I probably would have killed somebody if I had to do that with all the throngs of meandering people.  I don't have the patience for throngs of meandering people.  Or for the people who go against traffic - there's arrows on the floor for a reason, people!

Oh, the people!  Ai yi yi!  Nobody was paying attention to anybody around them.  They'd stop without warning right in the middle of the main aisle without regard to the hundreds of people behind them.  They'd leave their (empty) carts everywhere and anywhere, clogging up traffic.  They'd walk five abreast, making it so passing was practically impossible.  Parents were letting their kids jump all over the furniture - I literally saw one boy do a belly flop on a bed.  His parents did nothing to reprimand him.  The last section they heard you through is the children's section - I couldn't get out of there quick enough!


Next you go downstairs to collect everything you want.  While this was a little less insane than upstairs, it was still crazy.  And this is where you tend to spend more money than you ever planned.  Why buy plain cotton drapes when you can buy velvet?  It's only a few dollars more.  And though I only had a cheese grater on my list, yes I do need a cheese slicer, too.  And yes I also need a garlic press.  And those super cute lime green napkins, too.  You always need napkins, so why shouldn't they be cute ones from Ikea?  And those cute shapes ice trays.  And the well-priced towels.  It never ends!


The calmest part was the boxed furniture section.  Ahhhhh..... Serenity.....  Though you really should have a shopping buddy to help you move those heavy boxes, which I didn't.  Nor did I have room left in my cart for the big box.  And since there is no way I could maneuver both my regular cart and a flat cart, I had a very precarious situation on my hands.  I made it work though.  Check-out here I come!  Holy shit!  How did I spend so much money?!?!  Ummmm,  okay.

Now, how do I find my way to my car?  Let's just say that I think I spent as much time walking to the car as I did in the store.  There was absolutely no easy way from the entrance to the lot I parked in, while maneuvering a heavy cart.  And the guys directing traffic in the main parking garage were no help.  One guy directed me to an exit that had stairs.  Hmmm... not gonna work with a cart filled with a ton of shit.  The next guy told me to go back up to the front, out to the side and around the whole building.  Four miles later I was out to the street that my parking lot was on, but I was way down at the bottom of a hill.  I looked forlornly up the hill towards the lot, really not looking forward to a hike with my getting-heavier-every-second cart.  Then a parking directer took pity on me and told me he'd push my cart to my car for me.  Such a nice man!  Finally at the third lot we come to, I say - this is it!   We're here, we're finally here!  Thank god I can finally sit down!

I was too exhausted to put together my new stuff last night, so I still haven't gotten to see the fruits of my labors.  And now I'm getting a cold.  Although I sort of felt it coming on before I went to Ikea, I'm still going to blame it on the throngs of people and germs there.  As soon as I have the new bookshelves in there too, I'll take pictures.  I just hope I can actually psych myself up enough to go back!