Suburban Bliss:: Birth Control Via The Written Word

File Under: Duh.

I am 37 years old and have never developed a coffee habit. This is not because I'm Mormon, or allergic, or particularly concerned with "clean living". Some of my friends don't drink coffee or other things like aspartame because these things make them feel less than well.  I have a steel lined stomach, I rarely, if ever, have a reaction to the things I eat. 

And yet, I've never been a person who makes coffee in the morning to get my day going.

I have wasted valuable years of my life in this way.

This school year I decided I didn't want to feel exhausted all the time. I wanted productive days and when I dropped the kids at school I wasn't going to be thinking about cuddling back into the sofa for an hour or two. 

For years I've tried going to bed earlier so I could wake up bright eyed and ready to face the day at 7am. And it seemed no matter when I went to bed I was tired and unable to really process the thought of getting out of my bed. If I had six hours of sleep, eight, or even....twelve, I was always a bleary eyed mess in the morning. 

I decided this year to develop a coffee habit. And holy hell all those pop culture coffee references and all your Tweets now make sense to me. I don't know how I started my day without coffee. I'm not sure I was even alive. 

I was given a french press coffee pot for my birthday. That AND shattered teeth? How much better can my birthday be!? 

At this point however I have four small coffee mugs that came with our dinnerware. These coffee mugs hold about 2.7 ounces of coffee. I'm new to coffee but like I said, I've got the metabolic makeup of a steel tank and 2.7 ounces of coffee does nothing for my nervous system. 

I've been shopping for coffee mugs as a result. 

Educational Mugs @ Pedlars
Pantone Mug @ Velocity
Monogram Mug @Anthropology
My Mug @ Pedlars
Sugar Bowl @ Ninainvorm

I'd be remiss not to mention the allergy medicine I've also started taking daily. It turns out that pain in my face was not a non-alcoholic hangover, or just my way of being, it was my sinuses filing for emancipation from my face. 

In a year I'll be mainlining the coffee, I know. But for now let's just enjoy this new morning routine. 

Back To School Gift

Maddie forced me to go to the mall on Labor Day. I have strong feelings about going to malls, shops or restaurants on holidays. I think everyone should have that day off, color me communist/socialist/unAmerican. 

Additionally I just plain hate the mall. 

But I was nearly 12 once and I know the thrill of walking around the mall BY YOURSELF with a friend. It gets me a little giddy remembering the first time a friend and I walked downtown after school to her mom's office to drop our back packs off and then, the freedom of roaming around all the stores totally free of our lame parents. So, I made myself scarce while Maddie and a friend made their way around the mall. 

I filled my time spit taking coffee every time I looked at a price tag. 

I remember telling my mom, "Moth-ER, $29 for a sweater (skirt, shirt, jeans) is nothing."

And Mom? I hope you're happy because now I'm stuck in the same hell of explaining to my daughter that twenty-nine dollars for a sweater you're going to outgrow in about 6-9 months is actually a lot. 

You wished for this, don't deny it. 

Still, while at the mall I came across this cute note pad at Urban Outfitters (not on their site). I paid $6 for it and sent it with Max as a back to school gift for his teacher.

  

Voila! I just saved you a bunch of money. 

2 for $3.89! 

PS: I can't guarantee your kid won't be labelled a suck up from now until forever. (Oh, sorry Max!) Maybe save this idea for teacher appreciation week and make it from the entire class!

Jewelry Shopping: Cheap

A while back I shared a bunch of clothes I was planning to buy for my trip to Florida. I have not bought many of the items on the list but did get the shoes and Logan surprised me with the necklace.

The necklace has done what I hoped it would, taken my otherwise very boring wardrobe and infused with a look of intentional minimalism to highlight my crazy jewelry. Black wrap dress: Yawn. With the necklace: POW! Black t shirt, cropped jeans and cardigan: Bor-ing. With the necklace: Blam-O!

So I've decided to continue with that theme of dressing myself in very plain and boring items using accessories to give it a little lift. To do this however, one needs more than a single piece of statement jewelry. Otherwise your exciting piece of jewelry becomes just another layer of boring.

I found a few necklaces for super cheap at Charlotte Russe, and no, they're not sponsors. I just liked them, bookmarked them and have had a raging case of Writer's Block so I thought I'd share them with you.

Hurry up and wear the hell out of turquoise before it's not cool anymore.
 Marbled Bead Necklace $10.50

I'm not usually a big fan of gold but I'm finding it difficult to resist the bobbles. 
 Yellow And Gold Bobble Necklace $7.99

 
More Bobbles!
Bobble Pearl and Flower Necklace $7.99

 

These are sweet little earrings to wear when your necklace is screaming, "LOOK AT ME"
Filligree Flower Button Earring Trio $4

 
I admit it, a little neon and maybe a little 80's but they're so small I can let it pass.
Set of Six Multi Colored Earring Set $4

 
Look at this cute top? $22!
Rosette Detail Wrap Around Top

Summer Clothes

Well I kept trying to write last week but all that came out of my fingers was, "SICK!" and I don't want to write about how I'm sick. That's so Winter 2007-08 when my tonsils were trying to kill me. But apparently writing about being sick is what I want to do so let's just get it over with. 

I've been sick. 

When I'm not sick I've been sitting around planning what I'm going to wear on my girl's trip to Florida in June, I've been planning parties I want to throw this summer, I've been reading up on dog training (had our first class Saturday!), thinking about small inexpensive ways I can improve our living space. You know things that will make great content, once I actually do them. Let's talk about what I'm planning to buy for my summer wardrobe.

I'm traveling back to Seaside with a bunch of friends like I did last year. This year there are a lot more ladies coming along on the trip which is thrilling and terribly frightening. Yes I know har har Hormones! Sharing Living Quarters! DRAMA! But no, I'm not so much scared of the potential drama of 10-12 women on vacation together. 

I'm mostly scared because my one friend is like Logan, super outgoing and I am the kind of person who likes to hang out with 3-5 people at a time, preferably people I already know and feel comfortable being myself around. I've been trying to think about how to word this, it's difficult. 

When you don't know people very well, everything you do tells them a little more about you. So let's say you're on a vacation together and this one day you get really Hangry (angry and crabby because you're hungry). 

Your good friends know, "Oh, Melissa's hangry." New potential friends think, "Wow, what an inflexible pain in the ass."

See? Stressful. 

Additionally I seem to be drawn to people who are skinny and want to be skinnier (Please see, my Running Husband). So they go on wacky diets and strenuous work out plans and are constantly looking to lose "that last five pounds". This, stresses me out, especially when the goal is to be "thinner" by the time we go on our trip. 

Because, and this is my issue, it triggers some of my own disordered views about weight, worthiness and beauty.

So rather than thinking about how I can lose ten pounds before I go to Florida for a fun weekend with friends, I'm looking at clothes I'll feel pretty wearing and will feel good about my body in. 

Groundbreaking!

Have you seen the LL Bean signature collection? I've never worn yellow but I am so tempted to buy this skirt in yellow. What a great statement and the cut will be so flattering on me. 

 

I am a big fan of dresses for the summer because they're comfortable and feel more put together than a pair of shorts, which I find difficult to wear in a flattering way. This one is a little more on the dressy side, but I think it will be very wearable.

This top will go with a lot of the bottoms I already have and I always look for v-necks because it elongates my neck, at least in my mind. 

 

These might work as shorts, I'll have to try them on to be sure there's nothing less flattering than poorly proportioned shorts.  

 

Am I going to show you a plain cotton scarf? Yes, I am. I have an attraction to very boring clothes and when I wear a scarf suddenly I look as though I planned my look. I love the color of this one.

 

Loving a great necklace and what it can do to my v-neck tshirt and skirt uniform to make it look a little more like I intended to keep my wardrobe boring so my accessories could shine. This one is excellent.

 

The cut of this dress is very similar to one I bought four years ago and it's very flattering to my figure. Of course I bought the dress in beige and don't know what I was thinking, that I wanted to look like a bowl of oatmeal?  

 

I love the new ruffly/floraly cardigans at Old Navy. (The mannequins frighten me.) This one is a favorite, the rosette cardigan and this one. Never mind, give them all to me.

 

Cute shoes. Adorable price.

 

Here's the skirt I buy every year, it's my version of my winter yoga pants. (Don't worry I won't do yoga in it, you're welcome Yoga Class.)

I'm also debating buying a new bathing suit this year, the first one in 8 years. Eight. Years. Wow. I love this swim bottom, but I'm not seeing a top I could wear with it. (Full coverage, Florida says, "THANK YOU!")