Saturday Adventures at Target & Elsewhere (but mostly at Target)

I had some fun documenting my Saturday adventures with some low quality phone pictures.  Thought it would be fun to share.

I started out planning to go to the library (partly as an excuse to take my new brown boots for a test drive!), which is near the Target.  So I decided I'd stop by to get a poster hanger if they were not too pricey.  On my way out the door, Dad asks if by the way I can pick up a part to the edger/trimmer/weed-wacker-thing/his-new-favorite-toy?  So I head to Home Depot first.

Home Depot was super fast.  I impressed myself by finding the item in question all by myself and in about three minutes.  Strangely though, there was only one cashier open on the complete opposite end of the store.  So I ended up walking the length of the store twice (once to check out and once to get back the car).

Next stop: Target.  The other reason I wanted to got to Target was to see if they had any of the new Kirna Zabete collection.  I've been eyeing these items online, but I wanted to see them in person if I could.  Price is an issue for me for most of the pieces, but I was somewhat interested in the pink or blue long sleeves and dresses done with stripes and kiss patterns (I dig lips/kiss patterns).  I didn't have high hopes that everything I was interested in would be at the local Target, because clothing-wise, it's usually a big disappointment.

As I suspected, there wasn't much.  But the blue dress was there.  I decided not to get it given the price, quality, and the fact that I'm not totally sold on the sheer ruffle on the bottom.  I would have been interested in the kiss-patterned scarf, but it wasn't anyplace to be seen.  I did however get the red lips ring, which I love.  (Talked myself out of getting the bracelet.) I also found another ring set on clearance.  There was a lot of jewelry on clearance; I nearly bought 5-8 things, but settled for just the one ring.  Come to think of it, most of my favorite casual, day-to-day rings were all bought on clearance at Target!

Anecdote: Smile and the World Smiles with You

So last weekend I took the day off and went to Ithaca, NY to visit with my wonderful college roommate and to go to a Janelle Monae concert. After three months of working working working, running Grad Student Association events in the evening, attending class and falling behind in the reading, and somehow applying to, getting, and getting used to a new job and revising my academic/life plans in between, I was so excited to be just saying "hang it all! I'm taking the day off. I'm not going to think about anything but having a good time for the next 24 hours."

I mean I was really really really excited. 5-year old waiting for Santa on Christmas eve excited.

The morning I was leaving I got up and seriously could not get the smile off my face. I was grinning ear to ear like the Cheshire cat. My dad even asked what was wrong with me at one point. But nothing was bringing me down that morning!

Eventually I got on my way. The last thing I had to do before I officially headed toward upstate NY was fill up the gas tank. I pulled into the gas station, whistling "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" because it was the only way I could stop myself from singing it and weirding out everyone.

A scruffy older gas station attendant came up to the car and for some reason said:

"Bonjour! Comment ca va?"

I got really excited (yes even more) because I never get to speak french with anyone. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered why he had decided to speak french to me, but when it came down to it, who cared? It was cool and fun and oh wasn't this the best time I've ever had at the gas station.

Just about brimming over with enthusiasm I just grinned even more and burst out:

"BIEN!!!!!!!!"

This time he was a bit surprised but carried on the conversation:

Attendant: "Ahhh! Parlez-vous francais?"
Me: "Mais oui! Un peu. Un peu."
Both: "Oh hahahahhahaha!"

Eventually we got around to the business of filling up the gas tank and parted company with a "Bonne journée!" and a "Merci bien!" (which is apparently a but old fashioned but I like the expression).

I don't know what the whole episode was all about but it sure made my day! It was one of the best random encounters I have ever experienced. Perhaps the gas station attendant was merely so friendly because I was in such an outrageously cheerful mood, especially for 9am on a Saturday morning. But I like to think that magic of the moment was because we were both in a gloriously, unjustifiably, stupendously bright mood. Together we just made the world overflow with happiness!

They say, smile and the world smiles with you--- but if you smile and the world smiles back, well, that's even better!

Anecdote: Oatmeal Bread

While some of my co-workers are evil, others are pretty hilarious. Some amusing gents eat lunch outside my office. Today I overheard this:

Guy 1: I was wondering, can you just get your own oatmeal and make your own bread?
Guy 2: How do you mean?
Guy 1: You know, make multigrain.
Guy 2: Well, you could get a bread maker.
Guy 1: So I could just get some oatmeal and have my own flour.
Guy 2: Yeah, well wait, why do you have the oatmeal?

Anecdote: Hanger Theft

Lots of things happened today. I got offered a job. I rejected a guy who asked me out. I admonished a supervisee for not coming into work. I received compliments on my turquoise socks. I heartily wished for bricks to throw through the windows of the selfish, evil car that melodramatically and recklessly drove around me when I was moving over to make way for an ambulance. All and all, quite a day.

But the pinnacle of the drama came when I arrived back at home and when changing out of my work clothes, I discovered that the un-garmented hangers I had left in my closet were gone.

Maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal to you, but if you, like me, have cultivated a collection of hangers, perfectly harmonized to the needs of your wardrobe, this would make you jolly well ticked off. I have a fine-tuned assemblage of hangers, each one selected for a specific garment, chosen to maintain the apparel's shape, texture, and movement, to reduce wrinkles, stretching and crumpling, to indicate its level of importance in my esteem, and to working cooperatively with other hangers around it. A bad hanger can ruin an article of clothing and gums up the process of perusing the rack.

As such, I take hanger-theft very seriously. It is a terrific blow to my beautiful system of clothing maintenance, and requires me to embark upon the grave task of finding a replacement hanger--- and not just any hanger, but one which I can be satisfied will adequately take care of such articles of clothing now finding themselves in limbo.

On this occasion, I had two un-closeted dresses, and two missing hangers that had been present and accounted for in the morning. I had checked.

Upon accusing my mother, she readily and without any degree of shame fessed up to having been too lazy to make the long trek to the laundry room to find her own hangers, and had decided to usurp mine.

!!!!!!!!

She didn't understand why I should care so much as they were old and misshapen hangers. But they were hangers that had been misshapen to the perfect degree wherein they could support the broad shoulders of these specific two dresses. Such is the beauty of hangers. There is a garment for every hanger, no matter how battered. And my two uprooted hangers had found their match, only to be torn unceremoniously from that union and enslaved to the service of poor garment-care.

One day I hope to liberate them.

Anecdote: Mystery of the Rear Right Turn Signal

Recently, the turn-signal indicator on my dashboard has started doing double time when I indicated right. Instead of going tik tik tik tik, it went tiktiktiktiktiktiktiktik. I thought, hmm that is abnormal. What a funny car I have!

The next day I thought it would be amusing to tell my dad the story of my hyperactive turn signal. At the conclusion however, Dad suggests that there is probably something wrong with my light.

Uh oh!

Later, I promptly forgot about this problem until after I had driven to church and back. Fortuitously, when I returned I found my little sister outside mowing the lawn. As I pulled up I hollered at her to make sure the lights were working. She gave them a clean bill of health. Problem solved.

I announce as much to Dad, who frowns and wonders if I checked both the front turn signal AND the back turn signal.

Uhhhh, no.

Next day, I drive to work and think, wow, I better find out if my back indicators are not working! Shouldn't be driving around without working turn signals. Sure enough, the right indicator light is not lighting up!

That evening we investigated. What was the deal with the lights?

They are filled with water. Yes, that's right. My car lights are filled with water. ?????

Dad says: oh that happens sometimes with Dodges. It must be a design flaw. Somehow the rain gets in. I'll drill some holes in them so they drain better.

And that is what we did. We drilled holes in my tail lights.