I Run in Heels

Working my Recessionista Magic

Whoops! Sorry for the lack of content on this earlier today. I was trying to blog from my phone but it posted the title before I got a chance to enter anything. :)

Have you ever gone on a returning spree? I like a shopping spree as good as the next girl, but if you've gone on a returning spree you know the special kind of thrill from money going back into your wallet or account! Recently, after feeling the crunch of the economic downturn like most people are these days, I realized I needed to return some purchases. I'll even admit to you that I had to go dumpster diving (okay well just digging through my recycling bin) for receipts.

Next, I remembered the change I'd been piling up for quite some time. I'd raided it for quarters a few times, so I knew it wasn't going to be a fortune, but I drove to my local Albertson's to try out CoinStar. Although they charge 8.9 cents on the dollar to change your coins into cash, they also have the option of exchanging change for gift cards for no fee. I walked out of there with $18!

And, of course, there's always Ebay & craigslist to sell the junk that your neighbors will treasure. I've also started coupon-clipping for the first time ever. I feel like Suzy Homemaker. :) But hey, whatever works!

What are your money-saving/money-gaining tips?

Confessions of a Clutz

My brother had a number of nicknames for me growing up....Captain Clutzo, Sargeant Spills, and more of the same. Isn't that sweet? :)

In college, I visited a friend's home, and she told me I should probably confine myself to the kitchen when I was drinking anything, because her mom "didn't handle spills well."

I wish I could tell you I'd grown out of my clutziness, but the truth is I'm as much of a clutz as I ever was. More than once a week, I knock something over, usually muttering to myself: "Oh Lindsey!"

This week I spilled hot tea down my hand and (as pictured below) had a flour incident. After pouring some out, I forgot to shake what was left back down to the bottom of the bag. When I curled up the top of the bag and lifted it up to the cupboard, flour sprinkled onto the floor, a tray of mugs, a drawer of utensils, and all around the bag in the cupboard.

This is just a little shout out to all you clutzes out there. We need to stick together!

Ten Things that Make Me Happy

My amazing friend Mary recently had her husband write a post entitled "Ten Things that Make Me Happy." Before I share my list, I think I should give you a few of my favorite Mary moments.

One: singing back-up as Mary belted out her best Aretha-style "Respect"
Two: Dorm dance parties to songs like "One Nation Under a Groove"
Three: Oscars' parties, a movie premiere, and lots of movie-going!

And now to the list...

Ten things that make me happy are:

(1) Any non-caloric Coca-Cola product (ie: Diet Coke, Coca Cola Light, Coke Zero). My dad used to work for Coke and we were never allowed to order Pepsi products at a restaurant. It took years to break that habit and I still think Coca Cola is the far superior product. :)

(2) Magazines: getting one in the mail, flipping through one in line at the grocery store, getting a few to read on the flight...it's all good. I'll admit it...my favorite is People.

(3) Being called a fun nickname by someone who's earned the right to do it. You know those people who give you a nickname the second they meet you? You've just been introduced and all of a sudden they're name-shortening like you go back 15 years. Let's not rush this. We are not that close.

(4) Lip-syncing scenes in movies/on TV ala Stepmom, Hope Floats, The Cosby Show...

(5) My Iphone: I'm sorry. I'm turning into one of those people who can't talk about anything else. But the apps, people, the APPS. And the GPS. And the calendar. The list could go on and on!

(6) Driving: I love cruising around on a sunny day, windows down, sun roof open, music blasting, and me singing along just as loud. That's the good life. I think 24-hour-long road trips with the fam conditioned me to enjoy time in the car.

(7) Books: I inherited a passion for reading from my dad. I had a 2-year hiatus during grad school from reading for fun, but now I'm back at it full force and loving every minute of it. Got any recommendations?

(8) Stand-up comedy: My favorites are Mitch Hedberg, Brian Regan, Demitri Martin, & Ricky Gervais.

My cousin Jordan does a great impression of Hedberg's club sandwich bit, which goes a little something like this: "I order a club sandwich all the time. And I'm not even a member. I don't know how I get away with it. 'I like my sandwiches with three pieces of bread.' 'So do I.' 'Let's form a club then.' 'Okay, but we're gonna need more stipulations.' 'Yes we do.' 'OK...instead of cutting it once, let's cut it again.' 'Yeah, four triangles.' 'And we will position them in a circle. And in the middle we will dump chips. Or potato salad.' 'Let me ask you a question. How do you feel about frilly toothpicks?' 'I'm for 'em!" 'Well, this club is formed. Spread the news on menus nationwide.'"

(9) Christmas cards! Usually I like to send out my own update letter, but it just didn't happen this year. But thanks to everyone who send me a Christmas card/letter! I had them all set out on the counter and it made me smile every time I saw them.

(10) NPR: You know you're an adult when you start listening to NPR and enjoying it. My favorite show is Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me (a quiz program) but I like it all. So it's a toss up between that and hip hop on my radio.

2008 in Pictures

I got this idea from Dooce and I love it. I had great plans to do a Christmas letter this year and it  didn't happen, so here is a glimpse of my year in pictures:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Meet the Family

This is my family. I can't say that a color-coded family photo would have been my first choice, but what can you do?

My parents live in Oklahoma with 2 small dogs: Bailey, a black & white Shih Tzu (my mom will sometimes pronounce it "sheet-zoo" to make it sound a little less like you know what) and Daisy, a brown pug. My mom frequently refers to Bailey as "she." With a name like Bailey, you've got an uphill battle to start with as a male dog. Frankly, I think it must be emasculatiung to constantly be referred to in feminine terms. Daisy is a rotund (a gentle way of saying seriously overweight) pug. She belongs to my sister but when Courtney moved to NYC she couldn't take Daisy along. Daisy's not a puppy any more but she still has accidents of epic proportions, so she sleeps in the laundry room.

My mom works as the Director of Admissions for a private Christian school and is the defition of social butterfly. My dad works for a company specializing in Pella products, along with various other amenities for homes & businesses.

My sister Courtney is 26 and works in NYC as a corporate auditor. Her office is actually on Park Avenue, so we frequently tease her about supporting the rest of us.

My brother Seth is 23 and currently applying to a Master's program in Public Health, with a view to eventually attending medical school and then working overseas. 

It's strange to be a bi-coastal family. It would be different if we fought like cats and dogs, but we genuinely enjoy one another and feel the distance quite acutely. That being said, I think we're all pretty happy where we are for the moment.

I'm thrilled to have my parents & sister come out this way for the holidays! Our traditions include fondue, a living-room camp out, and catching the latest Christmas movies. This year I suggested doing a family variety show and my mom's immediate reply was: "We've got our act." What? "Dad and I know what we're going to do." Apparently, they had something they'd thought of doing somewhere else but then decided it was for family only. And she told me yesterday she also has a monologue. Oh man, I love my family.

To the Batcave?

In the words of Usher, these are my confessions...

(1) I hate bats. Some friends recently tried to convince me of their value based on their diet of countless insects, but I was unmoved. A childhood friend of mine had an outdoor pool and used to tell stories of the bats flying into them at night as they jumped off the diving board. She told me it was because they were heat-seeking but I've since learned that they echo locate. Either way, aaaaaah!

(2) I still haven't seen "Dark Knight." I know people who saw this film in the theater 5 times, and I'm sure it was amazing, but I just haven't gotten around to it. I think I'm still a little gun shy after this scene from the last Batman movie:

(3)  You will not get me to watch this site at Carlsbad Caverns: thousands of bats leaving the caves at sunset.  It makes shudder even thinking about it. My mom and I were at a zoo exhibit once where bats were just flying around inside with nothing between them and us. I lasted about 2 seconds before dashing for the door. 

A 21st century woman

I am struck by the contrasts of life as a 21st century woman.  

Recently I spent the morning playing flag football and left the field with significant scrapes on both knees and my left leg. 

That afternoon I switched gears and co-hosted a bridal shower for my roommate, complete with the requisite games and cute decorations.

The next day I got my face painted with an elaborate butterfly wing at a fall festival. Talk about girly!

An hour later my hands were covered in car grease while I looked under the hood with some friends to figure out the latest issues with my car.

I am sure every woman feels this tension of tough/tender to some degree, but I have to say I think single women feel it more acutely. I don't mean to make this post into a pity party at all. It is what it is. But there's no division of labor in my house; I'm it.

 The negative aspect of the resulting independence is that you get so used to doing things for yourself that it's hard to ask for help when you need it. As antiquated as it might sound to today's liberated woman, sometimes it's just really nice to be taken care of. I recently had to put air in my tires (which, I know, is not rocket science), but it was such a welcomed surprise when the attendant on duty offered to do it for me.

 Some men argue that they've had women get irritated with them when they tried to hold the door open for them, but those women are few and far between. We appreciate chivalry. We love it. And a small gesture can speak volumes.

 

I Run in Heels

This blog will now be known as I Run in Heels with a new web address of iruninheels.com. I've gone back and forth about changing it for some time, but this email from my aunt made up my mind:

"iruninheels is what I get teased about all the time!!  My doctor even said I have to take it easy on all the heels I wear!  I told him he was crazy that I would NEVER give up heels...he just laughed. I think I need a female doctor.  She would suggest all sorts of ideas before asking me to give up heels.  Geez....what is wrong with the medical field?"

I Run in Heels makes me think of a few of my favorite things...sports, fashion, saving things for the last minute, multitasking, and fun!

As 2008 is nearing its finish, look for more frequent posts, submissions from guest contributors, and a special feature for Fridays. Thanks for stopping by!

Mi Vida Loca

 Last week could easily qualify as the craziest week of my life to date. I survived finals week, graduation, moving out, competing in a triathlon, and flying to Italy. I was running on fumes for the most of the time, staying up 'til all hours of the night with equally overloaded friends, trying to squeeze as much as possible into every minute of the day. The weekend before I babysat my cousins for two nights, arriving home to find the ceiling in my bathroom had caved in and was splattered across the bathtub. Ah, the comforts of home.

Graduation was a long ceremony, but it sweet to be together with many of my close friends from the past two years. It is really amazing that my time at Fuller is over. I had to rush off after graduation to Anaheim to sign in for the Danskin triathlon, taking place at Disneyland the next morning. My mom, her best friend Sharon, my sister, my aunt, four of my cousins, my cousin's roommate, and my brother's girlfriend, and I all competed in it.

Sunday was a very early morning, as we had to be ready for the race to begin at 6 a.m. My mom and Sharon were in the second wave of women to swim around the lagoon in California Adventure Park. I got all choked up seeing them do it, because I know how hard they had trained for the swim and I was just so proud of them both! The bike had a few hills at the beginning of the loop we had to bike twice, but all in all was pretty tame. And the run was through parts of Disneyland (I think), although nothing too exciting. I hope next year they have us ending in front of Cinderella's castle or something. That would be cool! Out of 1,300 women, my sister finished 94th, my cousin finished 123rd I think, and I was 289th. We were pretty happy with that! :)

Sunday night I flew from L.A. to Frankfurt and then on to Rome, taking a couple of trains from Rome to Orvieto and finally a cab to the top of hill where Orvieto sits. I'll write more later but since this entry's running long as it is, here's an Orvieto pic for you to enjoy:

I'm a hazard to myself...

My brother used to refer to me as "Sargeant Spills, "Captain Clutzo", and other alliterative gems indicating my tendency for accidents. I visited one friend's family in college, and she warned me to keep my drinks in the kitchen because her mother "didn't handle spills very well." I like to think my spills have more to do with absentmindedness than a lack of coordination. I have more than enough proof that when I have too much on my mind, I become completely scatterbrained. I've been known to put away a clean dish in the fridge or return something from the fridge to the cupboard. But one of my most memorable mix-ups involved the loss of an ear of corn. I was cooking dinner and got distracted and when I went to remove the half ear of corn I'd boiled on the stove, it was gone. I started looking in logical places first: on my plate on the dinner table, in the fridge, beside the pan. I could not find the thing! A little while later, I pulled open the silverware drawer and tada! There was my corn. Why I thought its home was among the knives, forks, and spoons I'll never know. I suppose it could've been worse. I could have stuck it in my pillow case or in a shoe, but I'd like to think I'd snap out of my stupor before then. :)