365: Diva Night

We relived the first time we came to APHA in DC and went to get tapas and sangria. So many laughs. Love my friends.

365: My first year as faculty

My glorious and divalicious friend Brandi is doing a 365 project documenting her daily life from age 29 to age 30. I commented on how cool that idea was and she suggested that I document our first year in Chico. As we had already been here for a week and I didn't want to start off on the wrong foot (e.g. starting late) I decided to take that idea on with a twist. I was going to document my first year as a faculty member at CSU-Chico by taking a picture a day starting August 16th (my official start date at school), that way I could mentally prepare for the task and give myself a little time trying out different iPhone apps so that I could take some jazzy photos using different effects in case a day's subject matter wasn't quite jazzy enough on its own. I decided in order to kill two birds with one stone I would publish my photos on the blog so that I would have fresh content every day! Some days it might be just the picture with only a small caption, but I'm guessing on many days there will be a full-fledged story to go with the picture. If I have other stories or musings I will post those too, but with this project I'll at least be giving you something new every day! It's a big undertaking to post every day but I feel like I take millions of photos every day anyway, so it's just an extra step to publish them here! Wish me luck on my endeavors and I hope to share the next year with you!

Here's a little taste to get you excited (or not):

Our local grocery store has an awesome bulk section. They even have LIVE bees producing honey! Ange and I thought this was the COOLEST.

Our *Insane* Shopping Trip!

So I am trying for attempt number two at playing matchmaker for NY Diva. So far it's going better than attempt number one so that's good. We have a double date lined up for next Saturday. Naturally, NY and I decided that we need to go shopping to see if we could find some new digs for her to show off her hottest self. So we decided Friday after work we'd grab dinner & drinks and hit the mall.I picked NY up at her apartment and we headed out in the rain. I have had a splitting headache since I got rear-ended yesterday (miraculously no car damage) since I think my brain bounced around in my head a bit so we stopped by CVS so I could get some rapid release Tylenol and some Gatorade. Then we stopped off at Payless and Fashion Bug because I had some things to return to The Bug and wanted to check out some boots at Payless. Then we spent about 45 minutes in traffic. Boo! By the time we made it to Castleton we decided we were hungry and needed food. Now, NY and I are both the worst at picking plans for dinner, etc. so we were really in a bind. I quickly claimed that since I drove she had to pick and she promptly screeched NO FAIR! But luckily we were able to quickly come to a decision of On The Border.

We both enjoyed some adult beverages and chips and queso before moving on to yummy entrees. We then headed to the mall. NY hates shopping and it causes her stress so she hoped the adult beverages would help her loosen up for the trip. It worked for a bit but we quickly went downhill. She shot down nearly eveything I held up before I could tell her why I liked it. She would get this quick flash of horror in her eye before shaking her head a silent no or trying to say something nice like "Um, that's just not quite my style" or something, but I know she was really thinking "Lady, that shirt is just INSANE." I tried my best to convince her that she would look awesome in so many of the gems I found, but sadly she did not agree. If I had her body, I would be broke because I think everything looks awesome on her, but she is much more selective than I am.

I do have to say, since we went to 851 stores, this year's fashion choices are horrible. Somehow lesbians must have invaded all the fashion houses because half of the stores are plastered with these crazy plaid get-ups that are just horrifying to the eye. Most of the rest of the stuff is either hideously insane floral prints or just plain ugly. We literally saw a full length corduroy jumpsuit at JCPenny. Come on people, you can't be serious.

I do have to say, there is one fashion trend I am ecstatic to see on the racks...wait for it...SEQUINS (insert jazz hands). OMG I am over the moon for sequins. I absolutely sequins! I tried my hardest to get NY to love them too, but she just couldn't get on the boat with me. For once, my stylish sequin wardrobe will be in style.

Sadly we didn't find anything that fit NY's tastes so we packed it in and headed home. On the way home I was able to entertain NY with a wonderful dance montage from the new cd my love made me. It's the best music cd ever. Not even kidding. Although we did not get a new outfit for the date, we had fun and hopefully all will go well on the date regardless. Keep your fingers crossed!