Next time, I'll speak up

Last Friday, following my battle with not one, but two (!) flus, I determined that the eyebrows I had neglected for way too long had grown far enough down my face. Seriously they were atrocious. I tried to wear my bangs in my eyes a little bit extra in an attempt to hide my massive Hungarian eyebrows. The thought of plucking all that burliness by myself was overwhelming so I decided to go get them threaded after work. Being new to not only the Mid West, but the entire Chicagoland area, I had no idea where to go for such a procedure. At home I used to go to this little shop on Beach Boulevard in Huntington that specialized solely in threading so I was looking for something along those lines. I opened the Yelp app on my phone in hopes of finding a threading shop. The first return that came up was a hair salon that also did threading, but from the reviews it sounded a bit more upscale than I was willing to be seen in since my hair was in major Jewfro mode that day and I didn't feel like being judged for not only my heinous eyebrows, but my unkempt hair as well. 

I remembered a little shop that had a sign for threading near where we rented the U-Haul when we moved so I drove over there in hopes that they were open until at least 7:00. Success! I walked into the shop, eager to have my eyebrows look civilized again. I scanned the shop and noticed that of the 7 people inside, I was the only one with XX chromosomes. It appeared that this particular establishment is most commonly frequented by men of the Middle Eastern variety. One of the men performing a haircut told me to have a seat in what I recognized as a threading chair after he asked me what I wanted done. I sat down and sent out about 5 texts to friends telling them of my interesting surroundings. I waited there for about 10 minutes before a lady came out from the back and said to me, "Eyebrows?", and I nodded yes.

Now, this is where I should have spoken up. I should have said something. But I didn't. When it comes to someone who is altering your appearance in some way, you should never assume they know exactly what you want. In this happenstance I figured it was blatantly apparent that my eyebrows needed to be rid of their overgrown appearance. Nothing more, nothing less. The shape was clearly there, they just needed some very obvious assistance in regrowth removal.

I leaned back, closed my eyes, and held my eyebrow area taut as I've learned to do in previous threading sessions. This lady must have been using some cheap thread because she broke it four times while she whittled away my robust brows. At the end she ran a cotton swab of some watery solution over my eyebrows and I was sad when there was no lotion-y massage as I had been accustomed to receiving in Huntington. That had always been my favorite part--three blissful minutes of magical fingers running over my angry, sensitive skin.

When she indicated that she was done and I sat up to see myself in the mirror, I can honestly say that I didn't recognize my face! This woman had taken it upon herself to not only remove all the regrowth, but about a third of my actual eyebrow as well! A third!!! I actually gasped when I saw my reflection. I was so sad and in shock that I quickly paid her and speed walked out to my car to stare at myself in my sun visor mirror with the bright lights where I then discovered that not only were my eyebrows significantly thinner than I like them to be, but she changed the shape of my curve as well. I started trying to think of ways to fix my eyebrows that didn't include makeup, but nothing came to mind. And I wanted to cry. I know it's just hair and it will grow back. But it was my hair, and I missed it.

I was so discombobulated, so disoriented, and in such a state of panic that I didn't turn on my GPS and I literally got lost for 15 minutes driving home on a street I've taken over three dozen times. I found a random highway, realized it was the wrong one as I pulled onto the on ramp but having no where to turn around I had to proceed through the 80 cent toll plaza to get off at the next exit, (grumble grumble) only to discover that I had to pay yet another 80 cent toll to get back on the highway to go the opposite direction. Fail. Way to add insult to injury. I know it was only $1.60 but when someone is lost, in a foreign state nonetheless, they shouldn't have to pay to turn around. Do you hear that, Illinois Tollway?!

Next time, I'll speak up. And use my GPS. Lessons learned. 

...I came home and had a Scelerophobic breakdown

I've spent the better part of the past week spending my free time reading the blog "Hyperbole and a Half". It's ridiculously funny and I frequently find myself agreeing with lots of the things I read, which is both exciting and scary because some of the thoughts she/I/we have are probably not recommended if one hopes to live a psychologically sound life. For example, Allie (the writer of the blog) also hates taking showers when she's home alone. Some people live alone and as a result have no choice but to take showers while home alone. I am thankful I am not one of them. Growing up, I cannot even count the number of times that I hid a "weapon" in the pocket of my bathrobe to shank my would-be attacker with upon exiting the bathroom. Weapon choices originating in the bathroom are quite limited and usually consisted a metal tooth pick or a tiny pair of nail scissors that in actuality would cause little to no physical damage, but gave me the courage to exit the bathroom nonetheless. 

Last Wednesday, which to my defense fell within the first week of living here in the new house, I came home and had a Scelerophobic breakdown. 

Here's a screenshot from the site that is the first Google search return for "scelerophobia":

It all started when I opened the front door with my hands full of heavy groceries. I have two front doors, well kind of. There's a glass storm door on the outside that covers the actual exterior of the building front door which leads to a 4' by 6' room where you leave your shoes and coats. That little room has another front door that leads to the rest of the house. Up until that point, whenever I left the house for work at the same time as Boyfriend, I always made sure that the second front door was closed. But that day I had to leave for work early and left before him. 

As soon as I pushed open the first front door, I noticed that the second front door was open. This immediately sent me into hypervigilant mode, causing me to first freeze and check my surroundings for other abnormalities. I reached down onto my key ring and unbuttoned my pepper spray holder, just in case I needed a weapon for self defense. When I didn't sense any other immediate danger, I slowly  began to walk toward the kitchen at the back of the house and was almost there, when something else caused me to actually turn around and quickly walk back to the living room, setting my groceries down in the foyer, and grabbed a near by screwdriver for safety. What could possibly be so alarming that I was willing to let my groceries sit for an unknown amount of time in an unrefrigerated room (a major germ violation in my book)? It was yet another open door. 

This door, is unlike any other doors I've met before. It looks like this:

It is an accordion style folding door that leads to the staircase up to the second floor as well as down to the creepy dungeon basement. Boyfriend and I only use the first floor of this house and so we keep that fold-y door closed all the time, to keep the heat in and the creepy dungeon basement monsters out. So you can imagine my shock when this fold-y door was open! 

The following is the text message conversation I had with Boyfriend as I sat trembling in the living room with my trusty Phillips screwdriver weapon:

Me: Did you leave the stairs door open? It scares me that its open.  

Me: Also did you leave the other inside front door open? That scared me too... 

Boyfriend: maybe 

Me: Maybe??? I need to know if there's a robber in here!!! 

Me: I seriously am too scared to leave the living room and I need to pee and have groceries to put away. I suck at life. 

Boyfriend: I did 

Me: I feel like you're just saying that to make me feel better. 

Me: Did you go upstairs or down into the basement for anything today? 

Boyfriend: My sandals 

Me: So there are most likely no robbers in the house right now and I can leave the living room? 

Boyfriend: Yea 

Me: I'm scared still. This sucks. Ughhhhdbskdojfndnskwlnwbshjnzkskqkdjbf 

Boyfriend: Just turn on all the lights 

Boyfriend: If someone was there they would have gotten you already 

I then proceeded to sit on the couch, crying on the phone to my sister and dad who are 2,000+ miles away, as if they really could have done anything to protect me. My sister especially. I'm bigger than her. I cried and cried about how lame I was for being 26 years old and deathly afraid of robbers, about how I worry way too much, about how I thought boyfriend was lying about using his flip flops because why would he have needed them in the middle of winter, about how there probably was a robber in my house and I was just going to sit there and pee my 26 year old pants because I didn't have the guts to go check the house for robbers so that I could use the bathroom, about how my family didn't even have my new address yet so if the line went dead because I was really attacked by a robber that they couldn't have even called 911 from afar. This was not one of my prouder moments in life. 

Eventually my dad convinced me to at least go check the backdoor to ensure I was locked in safe and sound and could use the bathroom to pee instead of wetting my pants like a child. Thank goodness for my dad. And for my mom and sister and MelSav and my Twinsy, who all helped calm me down through various texts and phone calls. The things my loved ones put up with...haha.

I know I'm super behind on blogging. I'm trying to catch up but being sick for nearly two weeks has really put a snag in my regular routine. Not to mention the multiple boxes that still need to be unpacked from our recent move. I'm trying to be more efficient at life ;) Key word there, trying. 

...meat pollution

I'm not usually one to whine about being sick, or maybe I am, I dunno. My ability to think clearly is rather impaired at the moment. Monday night I started noticing a scratchy throat and a dry cough. I didn't really think much of it since Boyfriend and I broiled a steak for him that night and it filled the kitchen with smoke. I'm sensitive to all sorts of things in the air so I figured it was just the meat pollution that was bothering me. Sigh, if only. My scratchy throat and dry cough has evolved into a ridiculously intense cold/flu. Really, I don't know the difference between the two. And apparently this regimen of DayQuil and NyQuil that I've been habitually consuming for the past 5 days has now decided to wreak havoc on my stomach. Joy. I keep waiting for that morning when I wake up feeling infinitely better, but alas it has yet to come. I hate feeling useless and lethargic. I don't think anyone particularly enjoys those feelings. It's only three in the afternoon but feels super late and I'm sad that my weekend has been spent mostly on this couch. 

I did manage to get up for a few hours yesterday and help Boyfriend go through the pantry in the kitchen. That seriously took well over an hour. I went through all the food, throwing away the expired goods, keeping the ones we wanted, and putting the rest in a bag for him to take to work to donate to the Elmhurst Food Bank. The shelves in the pantry are actually shallow rolling drawers so we took each one out and he scrubbed them down. We got hungry before we finished loading the cupboards back up with our food so it's still sitting in boxes on the kitchen floor, hah. 

Sadly until I emerge from this hazy cloud of overall malaise, I probably won't be updating my blog. I promise I'll be back. Just as soon as both of my nostrils are functioning again and the swelling in the glands in my neck subsides. 

...but I just wanted to be sappy for a minute

The rest of my Weekend in California series is forthcoming, but I just wanted to be sappy for a minute and post my mom's response to the question, "So what did you all think of Boyfriend?"

"I think the general consensus is that he's a keeper. He seems very caring without being overbearing. He could hold an adult conversation and didn't seem bored listening to all our stuff. You just might have found a good one there! Not to mention he is easy on the eye and a nice dresser. Good arm candy! Ha Ha!"

<3 Love <3

Weekend in California, Part 1: Saturday Afternoon

I've spent the past hour and a half sitting quietly, eating a BLT sandwich, reading things on the interwebz (aka: my daily perusing of CNN, People.com, and Facebook) and now I'm curled up in bed, ready to take a nap. But first, I'm going to hopefully stay awake long enough to write this post.

The past 96 hours have been an absolute whirlwind--I traveled over 4000 miles, got to see over 40 of my loved ones, and said goodbye to my dear Grandpa Felix. The weekend was definitely bittersweet but it was most definitely everything I could have hoped for it to be.

Friday night, Boyfriend and I didn't end up going to bed until nearly 3:30, only to wake up an hour and a half later in order to be out the door by 5:30 on our way to the airport. We kept to our schedule pretty well and were in the car driving away before 5:40 :) It was so early. So SO early. I, of course, was too excited to be going back to California to think about being tired. We got to the airport in plenty of time, but thanks to an incredibly busy TSA checkpoint, we didn't get to our gate until about 15 minutes before our plane was supposed to depart. We were literally some of the last people to board the plane. And due to the combination of some people being inconsiderate a-holes by stuffing their rollie-bag, their laptop, and their jacket into the bins and airlines' inability to provide enough overhead storage space, we were forced to check our carry-on luggage. I was so annoyed because I really didn't want to have to wait at baggage claim. We got to our seats and I had just enough time to get situated, text my mom to tell her she could leave later to allow us time to go collect our baggage, and buckle my seat belt before we were on our way. 

I've never flown to or from Chicago in the daylight. I've always taken red eye trips. Boyfriend had the window seat and I spent the first part of the flight leaning over his lap to look out the window out at the clouds. Later I snapped some pictures of the snow capped mountains in Colorado and the colorful Grand Canyon whose various rock levels were visible thousands of feet up in the air.

I was able to nap for a bit on the plane, but not too much. I fell asleep with my face on the sleeve of my sweater and woke up with some awesome lines on my face that lasted for the remainder of the flight. We landed 15 minutes early and I texted my mom to see where she was. Her response: Anaheim! Omg, so far. Miraculously, by the time we got off the plane, stopped by the bathroom, and headed to baggage claim, our little bag was already there, spinning in circles. We went outside to wait for my mom since the weather was absolutely gorgeous and killed half an hour sharing a protein bar and an apple juice and tethering my netbook to my 3G connection to shop for a new sectional couch online :) 

My mom showed up around 10:15 and I dove across the front seat of the truck to smother her in hugs and kisses. It was the longest I'd ever gone without seeing her, December 23rd to March 5th. We hopped on the 405 and headed down to Huntington Beach to eat at my favorite Thai restaurant, Thai Pepper. It was amazing as usual, but I was sad that "Thai Pepper Man" as I call him (the owner) wasn't there. Boo. Maybe next time ;)

After lunch we headed to Norco to see my dad since I wasn't sure if we'd be home when he got home from work since I had a dinner date planned with my besties. We all met up at a local park next to a very pungent dairy farm and chatted for a few minutes until my dad had to head back to his route. Then we finally headed for home, nearly 4 hours after our plane had landed :P Once there we took a delicious nap. And that's where I'll leave this for now because that delicious nap's brother is beckoning me and I'm gonna give in :) 

To be continued!!

...unholy tangerine explosion

I figured I'd post a blog today since it's probably the last free time I'll have for the next couple weeks, which breaks down like this:

Thursday: Work then a desperately needed haircut at the salon attached to Boyfriend's bar! Super anxious because my beastly, wild mane is hurriedly becoming out of control! I haven't even attempted to do anything to my hair in a couple weeks now because it's so unruly and massively jew fro-y.

Friday: Work then laundry then packing then (ideally) going to bed early.

Saturday: Catch a 7:15am flight HOME!! Landing at LAX around 9:45. SEEING MY MOM, DAD, and LITTLE BROTHER!!! Going to my favorite Thai restaurant for lunch and maybe the Asian market in Westminster. Crossing my fingers that a get together with all my BFFs will work out that night!

Sunday: Brunch then Grandpa's viewing then family dinner.

Monday: Grandpa's graveside service. Flying back to Chicago on the red eye.

Tuesday: Arriving at 5:00am, sleep, then work (thank goodness we both have jobs that start at 3 in the afternoon!) 

Wednesday-Friday: Work all week then pack up the apartment. Sit and stare at Boyfriend a lot since the roommate is moving out while we're gone and he's taking the couches, TV, dining room table and chairs, and canceling the internet. 

Saturday: MOVE INTO THE HOUSE IN THE CITY!!!

Sunday and beyond: Excitedly start city living with the most amazing Boyfriend I could ever hope for :) :) :)

As you can see, life is pretty jam packed for the 12 days. I'm really excited about everything that's on the agenda. And even more excited for everything after that! Come Spring, our weekends will be full of renovating the 92 year old house we will be inhabiting. Goodbye wood paneling, linoleum flooring, plaster walls. This past weekend we did a lot of prep on the house--cleaning, packing up his grandparents' belongings, ripping up the carpet in our bedroom...

Besides the fact that the orange camouflage shag carpeting was like napalm for the eyeballs, my main concern with it was my allergies and even though we weren't sure what condition the original hardwood floors would be in, we decided that whatever it was was better than that unholy tangerine explosion. We were pleasantly surprised with what we found underneath. Aside from some expected wearing off of the finish, the floors were in excellent condition considering how old they are. You can't really see it in this picture but the outline of a full size bed with footpaths is visible in one corner of the room. I actually think it adds a lot of character to the floors and find it charming :) After a good sanding and refinishing, these floors will be gorgeous. Now if only we could do something about the size of our bedroom. Even though the house has two bigger bedrooms upstairs, this bedroom is the most logical choice. Unfortunately it's only 10x11 and Boyfriend's gargantuan bedroom furniture won't all fit. In fact, all we'll be able to squeeze in here is the bed and two nightstands. The dressers will be living in a "dressing room" across the hall. Fortunately it's not far at all and won't be a huge inconvenience. Just a little odd :P Though once we add his two dressers to the three dressers left behind by his grandparents that we have no where else to put, the dressing room will have five, yes five, dressers in it. It will literally seem as though we are dresser collectors with a room full of dressers. Hah. 

The bathroom is tiny but has a lot of character. There is floor to ceiling aqua blue tiling that is actually pretty cute and I think I've narrowed down my choice of shower curtain to this:

I'm excited to go pick it up from Bed Bath and Beyond and use my 20% off coupon in the process :)

I've got lots of ideas for decorating the house. Still trying to figure out color schemes. I'm a huge fan of chocolate brown and find myself thinking about that color for every room of the house, but I am forcing myself to crawl outside of my comfort zone color-wise :) Hmm, maybe I should incorporate this idea into my wardrobe too...haha :P 

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have waaaaay too much to be doing to be sitting here blogging any longer. Crazy busy life starts...NOW!