This Weekend I...

...Had a lovely happy hour with some girlfriends at the Tap House Grill, also known as the home to one of my all time favorite drinks--The Sweet Tart.  Yumminess!  This time I decided to give The Pink Starburst a try as well, and I was NOT disappointed!  Turns out, they also make a pretty mean California roll.  Don't get me wrong, I miss Colby a lot, but it's really awesome to have all of this girl time in my life again.  I didn't realize how much I'd missed hanging around with girlfriends--no boys allowed!

...Took care of some final details for my Labor Day weekend Disney World trip.  What, you didn't know I was going to Disney World?  It's almost like I DIDN'T EITHER!  I swear, generally I spend much more time discussing upcoming vacations on this blog and obsessing over them in my real life, but this trip has just totally snuck up on me.  Fortunately, we booked our hotel a while ago, but I'm still waiting to hear back about our transportation from the airport to the park and am planning to buy my park tickets at the same time as check in.  This is the most fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants as I've been about ANY trip EVER.  I'm not sure I like it.

...Made some fun Disney money selling a dress and some extra Proactiv products on eBay.  Who knew that selling things there would get to be as addictive as buying things?  If Colby doesn't get home soon, he may find that he comes back to an empty shell of a house, me curled in a corner, attached to my Macbook, feverishly checking the status of my auctions as I sell off the last of our belongings.

...Turned in my last paper, effectively wrapping up the first class of my graduate school adventure.  As of right now, I have a 99.4% in the class, so unless I bomb my Philosophy of Education paper, (Which, how depressing would that be?  I think I'd have to rethink my future career plans.) I should be looking at my first 4.0 GPA in a very long time.  I certainly think that's cause for celebration over the next week off of school!  Just think, only two years of this left to go!  Sigh...

...Bought this dress, top, and skirt for the same amount as a dress that I bought at 50% off from Anthropologie and then had to return because it was just TOO orange.  There's lovely orange and then there's TOO orange, you know?  Anyway, I love Anthropologie, but whoever sets their prices certainly does think pretty highly of themselves.  I love Francesca's Collections because they sell clothes that are just as beautiful and well-made as Anthropologie for a fraction of the price.  Because it's a boutique, you do have to deal with some limitations on the size selections (it seems as though smalls are sold out A LOT) and items do go quickly, but you can still find some great deals.  That skirt?  $8.50.  That's all I'm sayin'.

And finally, when I hit post in a few minutes here, I will have posted my 500th post to this blog over the course of almost exactly three years!  I completely forgot my 3 year blogoversary took place on Friday, so that celebratory post will be coming soon.  Just think, if I had spent all of that time that I took writing FIVE HUNDRED blog posts, writing actual literature, I'd probably have at least two finished manuscripts by now.  But it is just so much easier to write about shoes and The Hills.

Anyhow, I've got my big interview with the mysterious Company B today, so here's hoping that goes well!  But while I'm off sweating bullets in a job interview and then going in search of a bra that doesn't insist on peeking out over every single top I wear that dares dip below my clavicle, in celebration of my 500th blog post, I want to hear about the best present you've ever received.  And then I will imagine that I am getting those presents, and together, we can make this day almost as exciting as Christmas!  (Just with fewer cookies.)

Comments

[PomJob]

I've been trying to put together a grown-up trip to Disney for ages! Have extra fun for me.

Happy blogiversary! 500 posts is quite an accomplishment.

Best gift? Probably the GPS I got for Christmas last year. I would truly be lost without it.

[Steph.]

Drawing a blank on the present thing, but HEY...thanks for the link to the reasonably priced cute clothing site! I go on Anthropologie a lot and look longingly at sale items that are still too much to not try on in person. (Don't have a store near me right now...)

Congrats on the great grades and congrats on the upcoming trip! Also, congrats on 500 posts--I for one am glad to have gotten to know you in the blogsphere.

Good luck with the interview!!!

[LK]

BEST present? Gosh . . . that's hard. I've received a lot of really amazing presents over my life . . . I guess these are my favorites:

- My engagement ring
- My car
- A trip to see the Glenn Miller Band
- My Mother's Day potted plant
- My KitchenAid mixer
- My sewing machine
- Our honeymoon

Yep, a lot of amazing presents. Congratulations on 500 posts!

[Shannon]

Congrats on 500 posts! I am such a fan of your blog...

[maggie]

Best present? I hate how shallow this makes me sound, but I hated my wedding rings. My engagement ring is a long story and my wedding band was a $40 afterthought and I never wanted to wear two rings. But on our 3rd anniversary my husband gave me the skinniest sparkliest wedding band and I LOVE IT. And I never asked him! The other rings live in the jewelry box, unless I have to dress up and then I bust out the engagement ring.

Congrats on the interview and 500 posts!

[deutlich]

I freakin' LOVE that dress.

Me want.

[TasterSpoon]

Best presents!

The things that make me the most emotional are when people DO things for me, rather than give me things. Or if they're things, they're symbolic. High on my list:

- friends in college cleaned my room for me when they knew my parents were coming to visit (and I was scrambling to turn in a paper)
- pierced earrings from my dad on my 18th birthday (and permission to pierce my ears)

But the THING that's stood out in recent memory is this:

- after we'd spent an afternoon watching the infomercial for "Play Piano in a Flash," for my very next birthday, my boyfriend gave me an electronic piano. I was floored.

[katelin]

i love love the dress you bought, so cute!

and yay for girl partying and disneyworld, sounds fabulous my dear :)

[Becky]

I can only say this on someone else's blog, of course, but my Ex got me some really nice pieces of jewelry while we were married that I doubt I'll ever get from Ted (i.e. my current post about even an engagement ring). But now, I feel wierd wearing them, so they just sit in my jewelry box collecting dust.

Have fun at Disney World -- I'm jealous!

[Kate]

If you're not sure about transportation options (or tickets, for that matter -- I don't work at WDW anymore, but most of my friends still do and have silver passes), feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I can give you a few ideas.

[Stephanie]

Yay for such good grades in school! Quite impressive.

[sophie]

I got a pretty cool gift from a blog friend just this very week. ;-)

Other than that, my Sweetheart gave me a fabulous trip to groveparkinn.com for our first date. And it is as amazing as it looks. I guess not too many people have a three day first date, but so be it.

[slynnro]

I love Francesca's too, but EVERYTHING I buy there like barely covers my ass!

[Kate P]

Happy blogiversary and congrats on post #500!!!

I was wondering if anybody had been to a Francesca's Collections store yet--I came across one for my work but it's over in New Jersey so I just looked at the site and sighed.

It sounds silly, but the best gift I've received was the dollhouse my parents made for me one Christmas when I was a kid. It was completely unexpected--they made it and kept it hidden at a neighbor's house. It also was bigger than me, so I walked right past it on Christmas morning and they had to tell me to go back and open it. Right now it is safely stored in my parents' attic and I hope someday I will have a daughter who will enjoy it, too.

Hope the interview went well!

[Jessica]

Congrats on the 500th post! Woo! Here's to another 500.

[e.p.]

Aww, yay! It sounds like a lovely weekend. I'm uber jealous of your girl time (alas, I have no girlfriends here just yet) and those drinks. They sound utterly delish!

I hope the interview went well and that you're prepared for Disney. It'll be fun!

The best gift I've probably ever received was from the boy this Christmas. He got student tickets to the National Championship game, and while he told me he was giving his second one to his dad, he actually gave it to me. And after waking up at 4 am to leave BR and be standing in line by 6 am, we were on the second row of the student section. And it was incredible.

[mandy]

Disneyworld? I promise not to tell Dave... who is a total maniac about Disney. Those resorts are something else, though.

Best gift ever... hmmmm...
Plane tickets home

Congrats on 500 posts!

[CurlySue]

I am SO jealous you get to go to Disney World! I was there back in 2005 for Thanksgiving week. I had an absolute blast and I want to go back again. I loved loved loved Epcot with all the countries and shops. Eat at Japan and go inside the Inca looking structure in Mexico because it's awesome in there--the food doesn't even have tacos if I remembe right--they serve actual Mexican food. Sorry, I like my Double Decker taco from Taco Bell ;)

[ashley.marie]

Best present ever?

Possibly a CD my then-boyfriend, now-husband made me when I was studying abroad. He wrote, sang, played and recorded all the songs himself. FOR ME.

For Valentine's Day.

He's the best, really.

[Fraulein N]

Congrats on the 500 posts and your awesome grades. I think the best present I ever got was a PDA from the mister. I wasn't expecting it at all, and the damn thing is so USEFUL.

[Katie]

It's so hard to pick just one fabulous gift, but I keep thinking back to my engagement ring. Also, my DSLR from my parents :)

[RisibleGirl]

Happy 500 and congrats on the great grades! As your Internet mom, does this mean I have to give you paypal dollars for every A? ;)

I love the stuff you bought from Francesca's so I popped over there to check it out. They have some awesome necklaces. I'm TOTALLY getting into the necklaces- wearing more than one at a time and am loving it.

I have been buying necklaces like crazy and now I have to go find a new jewelry box.