Oh! Lots to update on… This calls for a list!

Anniversary
So, Monday was our 7-year anniversary. 7 years!! While Danny took off to de-stress, I had to go in to work for a doggy birthday party. Throwing parties is one of the more fun aspects of my job. I did, however, get approval to work only a half day that day, so I was out of there by 3 pm. I was excited to get home. I’m not sure why – I guess I had built up that day in my mind. What was I expecting, balloons and a parade in our honor? In the end, it was a fairly normal day, except that I got home much earlier than my normal 8 pm and I gave Danny a gift (a bamboo and glass lantern/candle holder that is stained to match our furniture.) We did go out to eat at P. F. Chang’s, which was a nice treat. It is always a 2+ hour wait to eat there on weekends, so we hadn’t been in a long time. The girly-girl in me was hoping for flowers, but they just die eventually anyway, right? And, I had all I needed for a perfect anniversary – my best friend/love of my life! (Insert “awwww’s” here!)

Hair
Ah, the never-ending re-braiding! As we have a quickie trip coming up in April that I’ll need to dress up for, I have been trying to wait until as close to that as possible before re-braiding my hair. It gets fuzzy quickly. Especially since this year I only have 86 braids instead of my normal 100-120. I decided that because I have so “few” (hah) braids, my hair always looks ratty, the roots dread faster, and my forehead fivehead looks bigger. So I am re-partitioning the braids in hope of ending up with 100-ish. Step one: take out the braids and comb out the dreadlocks at the roots. I decided to do that in sections, the first being the lower half of my hair. I finished combing those all out last night. I ended up taking out 31 braids. I hope to start re-braiding those tonight, because having loose hair is bugging the crap out of me. I hate feeling hair blowing in my ears and face. I have it back in a ponytail with my remaining 55 braids. No one has mentioned anything. I’m sure it is stylish.

Dress
As I wrote previously, we are going to a party in a California country club in April, and I posted that I needed a dress. At first I got excited about the idea of sewing my own. There was a big sale at the fabric store so I got fabric for 40% off and a pattern for 50% off. It was for a princess-seamed 50’s style dress in gray imitation silk shantung and a black Chinese brocade evening jacket. I had such high hopes! But, after much cursing and ironing and seam-ripping, it didn’t seem like the dress would turn out well enough to wear to the party. I am learning so much just doing the bodice and neckline (easestitch and gatherstitch and understitch, oh my!) so it is not a waste at all. It would all be easier with a dress form, I bet. I am definitely going to finish both pieces, but I needed a plan B plan A.

This past weekend, we drove out to the outlet mall in hopes of finding a dresser and night stands for the guest room at Ikea. No luck. All we bought was a desk lamp for my office. So, to make the trip worth it, we went into the outlet mall. At the Banana Republic outlet, I found a really cute brown and cream dress for only $70. And, they had a size 0! I really have Mel to thank for me finding this. She took time out recently to send me lists of all sorts of dresses that would be appropriate and really cemented in my mind what I should look for. The dress is a tiny bit too big in the waist, so this week, I need to take it to the tailor I use at the mall and have it taken in (it’s just too hard for me to pin alterations on myself, plus I have no idea how to deal with the lining.)

I do have a question… I recently bought dressy summer sandals to break in before the trip. I like them because, while they aren’t super fancy, I could wear them both while walking around in jeans and going out to brunch in a skirt – which is perfect since we won’t be checking any luggage. But, are they nice enough to wear with my new dress to the party? The shoes are here and with the dress here. If not, I need to buy brown dress shoes, I guess. I also need to know what is appropriate as a cover-up. I get chilly at night, especially inside in air-conditioning. It seems like a wrap/shawl would be to dressy – am I right? I have a super comfy sweater that is a good color, but probably too casual. Plus, it has a bit of a bubble silhouette (gathered neck and waist) so it would be awkward to button over the dress. If you have suggestions, give me links, please! It needs to be something either easily packed in a little carry-on, or something (like the sweater) that I can wear on the plane with my travel clothes.

Dogs
China recently had her sedated dental cleaning and tooth extraction. She got away with only one tooth removed – the one she had cracked as a puppy. She was in a sad state when she first got home. The anesthesia hit her hard (she *is* over 7-years-old!) and she was having trouble walking. The pain medicine made her drool a lot. By the next day she was more herself. We never did need to use the e-collar.

The dogs are getting along really well now. As some point at the beginning of the year, something clicked and I no longer had to worry about China lashing out at Benny when he annoyed her. I can now take them out to pee together! So far, I am the only one who does that regularly. Benny acts a fool for Danny. I don’t go on real walks with both of them because I worry about off-leash dogs in our neighborhood. It is illegal, but we have neighbors who do it anyway. There is a big German Shepherd Dog who likes to come bolting across the street full speed at me. Benny peed himself when he did it to the two of us. The dog ignores his owner and does it repeatedly. If he ever did it when I had China out, there would be bloodshed. She was attacked too many times by India that she would immediately and violently defend herself. We are responsible owners and always keep her clear of strange dogs she does not trust, but what can I do when the other dogs is illegally off leash? So, going on a walk with the both of them is out. It would just be way to hard to deal with any situation that came up, but I am so glad to be able to take them out to the grass for a “business trip” together. Benny loves, loves, loves his sister, and she wags her tail when he gets home from work with me and kisses her.

Computer
My MacBook Pro is here! I’m ashamed to tell you I don’t know the specs for it. Danny got it for me. I have been installing lots of software – most of which we had to repurchase since it is an Intel Mac. Once I get my new external hard drive set up with my work files, I will start using it as my work computer. My current one is super old and not always so fast. I’ll just need to figure out a good set up for plugging the laptop in to a monitor, keyboard and mouse in my office.

Health
I’ve been feeling icky over the past week. My digestive system has been all screwy. It’s too vague to explain, but everything feels weird and uncomfortable, and my “schedules” are off. There is a part of my that keeps wanting to stop eating, because if I stopped eating, there wouldn’t be any food in me to make me uncomfortable, right? Hah. I vetoed that plan, and instead, I started upping my water intake yesterday and stopped eating dairy (a wise move for someone lactose-intolerant, eh?) I woke up feeling a little better for the first time all week, so I guess that is helping. I know that my system is thrown off due to stress, but I don’t have a magic switch to turn off that stress. I shall just continue with the water and no dairy for now, and I also stopped at the store to get some digestive aid tea and some Kashi crackers that have high fiber. I figure a little more fiber certainly couldn’t hurt!

On that note, I’m out! Back to work!