I’m In Seattle!

First of all, National Readathon Day is on Saturday!! I’m over halfway to my goal, and I would LOVE your support! Because who doesn’t love books and literacy? Please make a donation over here. I’ll love you forever.

Feller and I are on the second leg of our Portland-Seattle-Portland vacation, and so far it’s been great. We spent the past few days hanging out in Beaverton, Oregon and not doing much. We discovered a Fred Meyer down the street from our hotel, which is sort of like an even BETTER version of Target, if you can believe it. Needless to say, we engaged in some light retail therapy and grocery shopping, since our room had a teeny tiny kitchen. We also discovered the 24 hour delights of WinCo, and their crazy huge bulk section. These two stores are certainly making a good case for Oregon being a pretty decent place to live.

On our first full day in the Portland area, we went to a Fred Meyers & picked up some important travel essentials. Namely, these bangles. #NAB #needabracelet #Portland #vacation

A photo posted by @amysaysread on Jan 15, 2015 at 3:15pm PST

I also discovered that I wasn’t quite as prepared for the amount of rain we were going to be doing with as I thought as I was. I brought my umbrella from home, but then I misplaced it somewhere between home and the hotel. Turns out, I had just put it in a different bag and forgot. But not before I bought a new one! And a raincoat! (My first raincoat ever. It’s like one more step to being a Real Adult.)

Actually Important Portland Purchases: rain gear. #vacation #Portland #raining

A photo posted by @amysaysread on Jan 18, 2015 at 2:21pm PST

Turns out the raincoat came in real handy when we hiked up Multnomah Falls. It wasn’t raining most of the day, but it started to as we came back down the mountain, and it was certainly nice to have the protection when we were walking by the falls.

That was the only Big Thing we’ve done since we arrived, but I think we both needed some time to relax and recharge and recover from Life. Life’s been exhausting recently, and we were ready for a break. We have, however, reached the point where we have to start making the most of our days and Doing Things. We were gonna try to go to Ecola State Park yesterday, but after the ass kicking the Falls gave us the day before, we decided to take it easy. (Also, we got up kind of late, surprising exactly no one who knows us.) So it was to Seattle we came, and we got here just in time for me to get in a nice run in the neighborhood around our hotel.

Guess where I got to run tonight #vacation #Seattle #SpaceNeedle #running #writeandrun31

A photo posted by @amysaysread on Jan 19, 2015 at 5:42pm PST

Not a bad way to greet a new city. Also, it seems the #writeandrun31 is turning me into one of those weirdos who looks forward to working out. Except for one Fuck It Day and a few days where I was sick, I’ve been sticking with my goals, even on days when I was really not feeling it or thinking that it’d be okay if I skipped. Like today. I was not going to go for a run, but we got checked into our hotel a couple blocks from the Space Needle right before sunset, and off I went.

Anyways, we’ve got a lot of stuff we want to do and see in the next couple of days. We’re only in Seattle until sometime on the 22nd, and there’s a lot to do! I, in particular, want to see the library.

Coupons are Awesome!

So I decided to become one of those people who spends as little money as possible at Walgreens through the use of coupons, and let me tell you, it is kind of exhilarating. Since I’m so new, the planning stage is kind of stressful, but once I get to the store and walk away with buttloads of stuff for ridiculously cheap, it’s AWESOME, and the planning stage isn’t even THAT bad. It’s totally an adventure trying to figure out how to get the best stuff as cheap as possible.

For example, yesterday I spend a total of $35 and got 3 toothbrushes, 1 tube of toothpaste, 3 conditioners, 1 body wash, 3 bars of soap, 2 really nice razors, 2 packs of nice disposable razors, 2 cans of shaving cream, eye drops, a birthday card, wet wipes, 2 deodorants, and … I think that’s it. But it’s a lot! A lot of stuff that I use regularly! Not necessarily brands I normally use, but I’m not that picky. There are very few things that I’m super adamant about needing ONE! SPECIFIC! BRAND! And being able to get all that stuff for so cheap just makes using it that much nicer. I’m pretty sure things smell/taste/work better when you can get them on super discount.

I also got a beater and brand new tags still on bathing suit for super cheap at Goodwill yesterday. A bathing suit that actually COVERS MY BOOBS, OMG. Which is practically unheard of! It’s amazing! And $7! I think it fits so good because it’s normally a $40 bathing suit. See? Shit is better cheap.

Yesterday was a good shopping day.

What a weekend

I was REALLY lazy this weekend (seriously, I was conscious on Sunday for a total of about 3 hours), but Saturday, I did drag my butt out of bed to head to Half Moon Bay to hang with one of my girlfriends. We had brunch, enjoyed the sunshine and wandered around downtown Half Moon Bay for a couple of hours. I ended up with a sunburn.

We drove into SF (yay one hour drive /sarcasm), prayed for close parking, FINALLY finding a space after driving around 10 minutes, accidentally driving up a majorly steep alley with no outlet, which resulted in having to SLOOOOOWLY back out into traffic. It took me about 10 minutes to squeeze into the TINY space, during which time I almost got ran over by the trolley, then we had a 5 minute walk to my friend’s apartment for sunblock and then on to the stores! We stopped for midday Beverages and had a fruitful hunt for dresses, though did not find one for her cocktail party this weekend.

And then I got a speeding ticket on my way home.

So, a slightly annoying, but overall good day and rest of the weekend.

Also, I am potentially going on Vacation to Hawaii in the next few months (I mean, I’m definitely taking myself on at least a vacation, but it might actually be a Vacation) (and also, I’m trying to go on a cruise next spring), and two things need to happen before then: saving money and getting fit. Saving money is going to be a pain, but not too difficult. I need to eat out less (she says as she’s about to order lunch) and cut out frivolous spending (good thing I just bought some new yarn!). Unfortunately, I have a speeding ticket to pay soonish, a dress to purchase, I can’t find my good yarn scissors, etc etc etc. Hopefully, I can get these couple of things taken care of in the next week or two and then REALLY REALLY focus on not spending money I don’t have to. Which means I might start drinking less. HAHAHAHAHA. No. I’ll just start drinking more cheap vodka.

UNFORTUNATELY, this also means that I’m not signing up for the pole dancing classes I was going to take (seriously, those women are in REDONKULOUS shape), nor am I going to join a yoga studio. Which means I’ll be running and using some of those (many MANY) workout DVD’s I own. I guess I’ll be spending a lot of quality time with 30 Day Shred and MTV Yoga and friends because taking my boobs bathing suit shopping just MIGHT be more frustrating than taking them bra shopping. And oh yeah! I need a new one of those TOO (MAH MONIES). I also need to make sure I’m eating better all the time. Bye bye, Target spinach & goat cheese pizza. Hello, cooking at home (SIGH) and keeping good, easy food handy (this will probably involve a lot of carrying food back and forth from my home fridge to my work fridge to the feller’s fridge).

And so, in the interest of being healthy, I ordered the meal that does not come with pasta, and I said no to the foccacia bread. Which was very hard. That shit is BOMB.

Author Events

Somehow, I have found myself posting a lot about books, which I hadn’t expected when I started this blog. But I do love to read, and right now, it’s pretty much the only thing I do besides watching hours of Doctor Who and Torchwood in my sweatpants. Though I haven’t been doing much reading recently; I’ve started two books that are not really drawing me in, at least not the way Doctor Who does.

Anyway, two of the authors of my Top 5 Books of 2009 are going to be doing readings/signings/speakings in the Bay Area in the next couple of weeks. Yay! I’m actually totally stoked about this because the authors are Carrie Ryan and Malinda Lo, who wrote my ABSOLUTE two favorite books that I read in 2009. I’m SO EXCITED. AND!!! Carrie Ryan’s sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth comes out next Tuesday! So I can have a matching set of signed books by her! Which is totally cool, because I LOVED Forest of Hands and Teeth, and because the only other signed book I own is a crappy fantasy by Michael Stackpole, and I didn’t even get to meet him (nor did I read the book, but I guess I will someday because reading all the books I own is on my To-Do List).

AND! The books signings/readings/whatever can count as my new thing for March! Because I’ve never gone to an author thing before! Because authors don’t come to Tucson…I can’t imagine why. I definitely want to keep my eyeballs peeled for more things like this because if I have to live here, I’m going to enjoy all the shit we don’t get in Tucson, dammit!

I would also like to check out live music type stuff, but that’s so hit or miss. I don’t want to pay to go somewhere just to end up hating the music they have. I used to think I was very tolerant of all kinds of music, but then I started working at Starbucks and quickly discovered that there are LOTS of kinds of music I don’t like (holiday music! Kenny G! Sarah McLaughlin! Whatever other annoying shit SBux was playing that week!).

Gah, March is annoyingly busy for me. Thursday night, I’m flying into Ontario (California) for a work manager’s meeting, next weekend I have a couple of good friends staying with me, which should be lots of touristy exploring fun, the weekend after that I’m in Pittsburgh for school stuff (SIGH), and that doesn’t even factor in the school stuff I have going on. I would like a vacation, plzkthx.

But you know what? I won $80 playing poker Saturday night (I have mad skillz), so I’m gonna do a little retail therapy today. I need a new pair of boots for work/every day wear, and I might splurge and get some REALLY NICE ones (I’m desperate for these). I also need to pick up a new bra or two. Mine are getting old and worn, and it was pointed out to me this weekend that I probably need to go up a cup size. Which puts me at TRIPLE FUCKING D. Which is why I have such an issue finding bras. 34DDD, not a common size.

This pointed out to me today (I mean, I’ve heard about it before, but today was the first time it became Relevant to My Interests). If you scroll down, you’ll see a ranking of states by dick size. If you look, THERE at #5 is Arizona (a ranking I can happily corroborate) (and Phoenix comes in at #5 on the cities list too). Where is California? NUMBER TWELVE. I’VE BEEN DOWNGRADED. I am doomed to smaller dicks. Gone are the lovely, wonderful penises of yore. I shall add “please find me a big dick” to my list of what I pray for right before bed (along with Silverlight for my phone). SIGH.

WHOA.

I got my $100 rebate from my fancy phone! Whooo!! Though to be completely honest, I had kind of totally forgotten about it. I mean, EVENTUALLY, I would have wondered wtf had happened to it, but right now? Not so much. Let’s do some frivolous shopping this weekend! Let’s spend most of it on filing my damn taxes! Though, to be fair, I’m getting a PRETTY SWEET refund this year, so it could be worse.

I am SO STOKED about my tax refund. In … 3, maybe 4 weeks, I’ll have gotten rid of some debt that I had expected to hang over my head for another YEAR. THIS IS HOW I KNOW GOD LOVES ME. I’m … overwhelmed. I have been SO BLESSED this year, and I am SO GRATEFUL. I mean, once this debt is gone, the rest of my debt, including my undergrad school loans is going to FLY AWAY. It’ll go so fast, I’m SO EXCITED.

As a yay me! present I’m going to buy myself Specials (with the leftovers on the Verizon rebate) and some music I’ve been lusting after (Lost Immigrants, Hope for Haiti Now), which I was totally going to do anyways. Maybe I’ll even go crazy and get Extras too! Or … maybe Peeps. DILEMMA.