September 30th, 2010: JCrew Grey Suit, BR striped woven shirt
October 1st, 2010: Black BR scoopneck sweater, Gap Skinny Jeans
October 2nd, 2010: BR wool green long-sleeved tee, Gap khaki couduroy skirt
October 2nd, 2010 (evening): BR turquoise wool sheath dress
October 3rd, 2010: BR green wool turtleneck sweater, Gap skinny jeans
October 5th, 2010: BR white cableknit sweater, Ann Taylor Loft couduroy pants, Ann Taylor loft scarf (b-day gift from Kim!)
October 6th, work from home day - nothing to report
October 7th, 2010: Black sleeveless tank with leather cross and heart thingy and metal grommets (very biker-chic), Black JCrew skirt
October 9th, 2010: Liz Claiborne black cami, Black Ann Taylor loft short sleeved cropped sweater, Express Jeans, Tara Hubbard (local designer) belt, PeeWee the kitten as an accessory (holding her to keep her from getting in front of the camera)
October 10th, 2010: Gap striped 3/4 sleeved tee, unknown denim skirt (a favorite for years as it expands with my waist)
Yes, the challenge continues though my blogging has slackened! I must share that I am typing this blog after a major stress attack as I am gearing up for my trip to Dubai and while checking in online for my flight, realized that I could not find my passport. I checked in the usual place and sure enough, it was missing - but my husband's was there. As you can imagine, I tore through the house in a frenzy trying to find the damn thing while crazy thoughts raced through my head: "what if I took it out to fill out some travel paperwork and it got mixed in with the mail that needed to be shredded and I SHREDDED IT????" "what if I left in a suitcase and during all of my travels since my trip to Belgium, it slipped out onto a hotel floor when I left the zippered pocket open?" This anxiety mixed with the thought of having to tell the client that I couldn't make the trip because I'm a dumb ass and lost my passport stirred in with the regular Sunday anxiety that I experience certainly created nothing short of the worst Lilly-monster Mike has ever met. Finally, Mike stopped me in my whirlwind of panic and we re-traced the events that happened after we returned from Belgium and it suddenly dawned on me that I was using a different travel bag when in Belgium - one that has been hanging on the doorknob of our bedroom since May and has remained untouched. I quickly buzzed over to the bedroom and with the biggest wave of relief yelled "I FOUND IT" and ran back into the office where my patient husband was waiting and fell on the floor in exhausted contentment. Nothing like an episode like that to really get you excited for travel, eh? I guess the good news is, the thought of not going to Dubai really made me want to go - so now I'm actually relieved that I am going!
The past couple of weeks have been great low-key, relatively low activity weeks to allow me to charge up for my international trip. After New York, I spent most of the work week from home with just a brief overnight jaunt in Detroit. I got to see my new home away from home (Mike & Lyn's rented house) and broke in the return of the queen-sized bed in my own room (as opposed to the pull-out couch in the basement). The Friday of that week was spent on a "personal day" giving myself a chance to chill out and be "cat-like" as Lyn suggested I do to celebrate my upcoming birthday. That evening, Mike and I headed to Cleveland for a spa-retreat getaway and had a 3-course meal at the spa resort. Saturday morning, we woke up, enjoyed a meager continental breakfast which was part of the "getaway package" and then had a few spa treatments followed by a 3-course champagne lunch - yummy. We then headed to the Westside Market in Cleveland to peruse the ethnic goodies being sold in the market and then had a glass of wine in the afternoon on a very dreary pre-maturely cold day. That evening, we headed into Cleveland Heights to meet up with my boss's boss, Barry, and his wife Peggy for dinner - we went to a great french restaurant in the heart of the Case Western campus - and it was delish! Sunday, Mike and I spent more time on the Case campus, visited the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is beautiful after it's renovations (they have a Rodin room that is made of glass walls that you can peer into from the outside as you drive by the museum). We then hit up Trader Joe's in West Lake and then headed back home to ease into Sunday evening.
I took Monday off to celebrate my birthday and continue being "cat-like." I started with a Monday workout, followed by a hot stone massage and lunch with my lovely DUB club friends, and the caught up on TV while I waited for dinnertime to roll around. Mike and I went to Revolver, our favorite "local" (I put it in quotes as local for us can fall within a 50 mile radius) restaurant, and got royal treatment as we know one of the waitresses there. Needless to say, I celebrated my birthday in style and judging from the tight fitting clothes all week, did so with success.
This past week was a light week from a workload perspective, so I had a chance to catch up on administrative type work activities and mentally prepare for my trip to Dubai. On Friday, we had our team kick-off meeting at Lucky Strike Bowling Alley in Novi, MI and some of us stayed behind to turn our outing into a Happy Hour and dinner at a restaurant nearby. Mike and the other significant others joined us and we ended the night breaking in Mike and Lyn's basement polishing off a couple bottles of wine. Saturday was an easy day and began with a stroll through an awesome farmer's market around the corner from Mike & Lyn's, Mike and I returning home and getting some house-stuff done, and then chilling on our neighbor's newly finished back patio drinking some vino. All in all, it's been a great October so far!
I am now the proud owner of an iPhone 4G, which means that I am completely addicted to finding apps that purport to simplify my life. Sure, simplify my life, but also decrease the already scant amount of time I spend interacting with people in a normal fashion. During breakfast with Mike & Lyn yesterday, Lyn was the only person at the table with enough restraint to leave her phone in her back and attempt to make conversation with the rest of us who had our eyes, fingertips, and almost noses glued to our new toys. Mike, Mike, and I all compared applications and began almost every sentence with "Oo! Have you heard of X app or Y app, or did you know you could do Z with X?" Poor Lyn! This unacceptable behavior, unfortunately, has carried into today and during lunch with Mike today, I sat looking for different applications that would find movies, store all of my club cards on my phone, match a paint chip to a color that can be bought at Lowe's (by the one, no such app exists), tell me what characterizes a specific wine vintage and varietal, track my grocery list, track my car maintenance, do my laundry (ok, no I didn't really look for that one - I'm not stupid - or at least I don't think anything like that has been created yet, but who knows!). Anyway, I guess I should consider looking for a blogging application as I am very much slacking in what used to be daily commentaries, though I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing to you readers!
Ok, so on the clothing front - still going strong with not buying anything (though I have been looking up clothing apps to see if you can more easily shop online and be able to pair different articles of clothing together - I'm sure one exists, and if not, perhaps I should create one - or at least communicate this to someone who can!). My closet is still dwindling - I have officially spun through all of my summer tops and only have a few more sweaters left to wear. I do have a few more suits that still need to either be worn or donated, as well as a couple of dresses. I'm thinking my company conference in November will seal the deal on that one! I am giving myself a bit of a break and allowing myself to go upstairs to my "do not wear" closet and pick out some items for my trip to Dubai. Luckily, business attire is not going to be required as the client has scheduled some group outing that is to take place the day I am presenting and because of the 40C temperatures that day, she has encouraged everyone to come in shorts and t-shirts - not that I will - but I do need a good pair of capris and a button down short sleeved shirt - all of which I have already churned through. I promise, once I get back from Dubai, however, I'll resume the do not repeat clothing rule.
I will try to blog in Dubai, as I think I'll have a lot to write about, even from a no shopping perspective given that my hotel is connected to the Dubai mall...so, until then (which will be about 36 hours given that I'll be spending at least 20 hours traveling!).
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