Vacation: Day One

So I haven't really updated on here in a while due to a lot of things going on with my family right now and all of the preparations for my vacation. I'm finally here in Sarasota though and the friend I'm staying with is at work so I figured now would be a good time to let you guys know I'm still alive. Let me go ahead and start off by saying I finally got a new camera so, as much as I love instagram pictures, get ready for some real camera shots. I didn't get anything too special, just a simple point and shoot that fits in my purse or pocket for daily use and has a few little features I thought I were interesting. It's a Canon PowerShot Elph 100 HS in case anyone was wondering.

Anyway here are a few pictures from yesterday which was the first day of my vacation.

This isn't so much from yesterday as it is more of an aftermath shot. I was messing around with the settings on my camera and the picture ended up not doing the highlighter red color of my terrible sunburn any justice at all. I feel like I'm wrapped up in a blanket made of fire.

Alright, I lied, these aren't really pictures from my first day of vacation. This is another picture I took in bed while watching How Do I Look? The magazine I haven't even flipped through because I want to save it for when I can hit the pool again. The book is awesome. I'm only like on chapter two but I'm already really into it. I haven't seen the movie yet (shocking since my favorites star in it) but I really want to as soon as I finish reading the book. I also started reading Are You There Vodka, It's me Chelsea yesterday and I've gotten such a kick out of it. I'm reading all of her books while I'm here. Her books are the perfect light summer reading to put you in a good mood while you sip margaritas and tan.

These are the cupcakes Sara and I thought we wanted to eat yesterday. Both of us just sort of picked at our frosting and then ended up going to CVS at like one in the morning to buy chips. Whole Foods always has the most adorable and delicious looking cupcakes but then you go to eat them and they're giant and too sweet and overwhelming. We'll never learn though. We just keep buying them.

This is my buddy Jude. She hangs out with me while Sara's babysitting. I feel bad because I've been yelling at her since yesterday to not get too close because she's very affectionate and ends up clawing at my fire skin and then I want to cry.

That's Sara with the little girls she babysits. They met me at the pool yesterday which resulted in a my tan time being cut in half which was a blessing in disguise. The back half of me is totally fine. Not even lightly burned. I'm sure this will look really weird once the red goes away and from the back I'm too white but at least, for now, I can sit. The girls were surprisingly not terrible. I'm usually not good with children because I have no patience for them but the girls were generally sweet. I'm pretty sure they were only well behaved because Sara told them that I hate kids and wouldn't be there friend unless they were good because I have heard some serious horror stories about them.

Sara and I also took Jasmine, the oldest of the girls she's babysitting, out to dinner last night. Sara's in the Big Brother Big Sister program and she's had Jasmine for like two years now. The girls were pretty good while we were at the pool but fast forward a hours and dinner wasn't as simple. There was a lot of singing on her part and it was kind of annoying. Sara and I decided to split the most delicious drink ever for dessert though and that sort of made up for it.

Tonight we might go out and maybe see a movie and get some drinks or something. Tomorrow will hopefully be a Dinsey day. We need to decide on whether we want to see Nelly or Third Eye Blind at Universal so we can figure out which Saturday to go where. I still have like nine days of vacation left and I'm already dreading it ending. My friend should be getting home in just over an hour so I think I'll go deplete her Lush stash and take a bubble bath so I can be ready for whatever ~adventures~ we might embark on today.

Well I should be sleeping but...

instagram O5.21.11, a photo by lula mae barmes on Flickr

So I used a new LUSH Bath Bomb tonight which was their Sex Bomb. It smelled really nice and turned the water all pink and fluffy and was just perfect for relaxing. The only real downfall was that it left the horrible purple ring around my tub that I was just far too lazy to clean off tonight. There was no glitter or confetti or pieces of flowers or anything in this particular bomb with I liked. It's not that I don't like some of LUSH's other products' little surprises but sometimes when you just want to soak and chill out and maybe read a little random stuff fluffing out of your bomb can be a little distracting. 

Since I started with the bath bomb picture I guess I go through these counter clockwise which brings us to the juice picture. My mom brought me home a bunch of Odwalla juices since I'm really pick about what I eat/drink while I'm home. I have this weird thing where I won't even look at something edible if it's been sitting about for more than like 15 minutes which means I almost never end up eating anything she cooks. A part of me feels bad about that but my weird OCD part definitely overshadows it. Odwalla things are perfect for me because they're really healthy and filling and individually packaged. This picture is of their blueberry juice which is absolutely delicious. My favorite Odwalla drink is the strawberry protein shake which is the perfect breakfast. It tastes so yummy and gives me a really good portion of the protein I should be eating in a day which is good because as a vegetarian I need to watch that. 

Next we've got my everyday lunch. Wether I'm working or shopping or off and sitting around doing nothing I usually always end up making my way to Starbucks for lunch and getting a Birthday Cakepop and some kind of drink. During half price frappuccino hour (I called it Frappy Hour, I dare you to tell me that isn't catchier) I was all about the Mocha Coconut Frap but now that they're back to being full price I've switched over to ice say caramel macchiatos with extra caramel. But I had a terrible experience yesterday where they used a giant sheet of ice in my cup instead of cubes like normal people would use and when I tried to stick my straw in all of the coffee came out and spilled all over me and stained a brand new white shirt I was wearing. After that I think I might be getting ready switch up my drink again. What are some of your favorite Starbucks drinks? I'm always looking for new things to order from them.

Finally we come to my super sweet customer service superstar ~award~. I use the term award very loosely because it's really just a flimsy little piece of paper that I don't even get to keep. I'm so complicated at work and I give the basically everyone I work with that hasn't proved themselves worthy of my good graces (aka 99.9% of the store) such a hard time that everyone was really shocked that I even got a nice customer comment. Shockingly enough I'm nice to the people that shop at our store. Well, at least the ones that don't spend their time at the register screaming obscenities at me because they forgot their coupons or lost their receipt or did something else that's in no way my fault that they're anger about. This will be a post for another day but get ready for a little something about my cashiering pet peeves and what not. 

currents, a photo by lula mae barmes on Flickr

Now I'm sitting in bed watching Rocky & Bullwinkle because it's on Netflix instant and I remember loving this cartoon a whole lot when I was young. Fractured Fairy Tales is definitely my favorite segment on this show. It's so silly and ridiculous and I can't help but laugh. I also have some Adele playing softly in the background because, really, why not? Her voice is perfect and sounds like what I imagine something really majestic and awe-inspiring like a unicorn with a diamond tiara and glittering fairy wings would sound like. I'm also reading Divergent by Veronica Roth. I just started reading it like two minutes ago, actually. It's a dystopian young adult novel that's supposed to be amazing like The Hunger Games was amazing so I'm hoping this fills the book void in my heart. This is going to be a series though and this first book just recently came out so I'm a little nervous. I can't even begin to imagine having to wait more than five seconds between my Hunger Games books. I don't know how that people that ready them as they were released even survived. I guess possibly the same way I did when Harry Potter was being released. In other words, they didn't. Anyway now seems like the right time to sign off on this because I've like to get at least the first chapter of this book done before I go to bed and it's already 7:00am and I have to be up at 12. My sleep patterns are so ridiculous. 

ps. Please excuse all of the crazy typos that I'm sure are in this. I'm too tired to go back and proof read anything. 

xoxo

monday morning

monday morning, a photo by lula mae barnes on Flickr.

I woke up super early today and decided to paint my nails before I had to go to work. I had started painting them last night but I got this terrible migraine and just ended up messing them all up. Originally I had planned on using a really pale shade of pink that leans towards white but I ended up going with Insta-Dry in Sonic Bloom which is an orangey-red shade. I love this polish so much. Seriously, one coat and you're good to go. It really does dry in a minute or two, too. I found this Essie base coat on sale at Target yesterday which was nice because, even though I hate base coat passionately, I really need to start using it. My nails have been splitting really easily lately. I'm not about to blame my short nails on weakness because I'll openly admit to the fact that I bite them but I really have been trying to cut that nasty little nervous habit lately. Unfortunately, every time I've let them grow a bit they snap right off. This base coat is supposed to strengthen your nails and promote growth so we'll see how that goes. 

the best lunch, a photo by lula mae barnes on Flickr.

After work, which started off really nicely but then managed to end terribly, I went to lunch with my mom at the Cheesecake Factory. I was mad because of work and because I had to go by school to pay for my summer classes and my mom appeared to have had a bit of a ruff day as well so we settled for comfort foot and split some onion rings, artichoke hearts, stuffed mushrooms, and mozzarella bites. Everything was so delicious! I want to feel like eating there two days in a row is a bad thing but I just can't seem to talk myself into it. I know their food is far from good for you but it's so tasty that I can't be bothered with carrying sometimes. We did skip dessert, though, so at least that's something. Last night we split a slice of their new red velvet cheesecake and it was the most decadent slice of heaven ever served on a plate. I swear I'm not even exaggerating. 

hunger games, a photo by lula mae barnes on Flickr.

My mom wanted to go check something out at Borders after we ate. I'd like to take a moment right now to express my anger at the fact that my Borders is still very open. I love Borders and don't actually want it to close but I know so many people that have gotten the most amazing deals of their book buying lives in the weeks leading up to a Borders close. Anyway, a friend of my mom's needs some help with a website so she wanted to look at a book on html. My mother is the least computer capable person on the face of the entire planet so I'm not sure the book was as helpful as she'd hoped. I went ahead and picked up a book for myself while she looked around. I bought The Hunger Games which everyone else in the world has probably already read by now. I have very strong feelings about investing my emotions in any book series. Harry Potter stole my heart when I was just a little kid and has never let go and Twilight made it impossible for me to even hear the words glitter and vampire in the same conversation without reacting irrationally. I almost got sucking into the Percy Jackson series but then I misplaced the firsr book before I finished reading it so I really can't say much in it's favor or otherwise. I only bought The Hunger Games because a friend of mine from work was telling me about how amazing the series is and after listening to her praise it for a few minutes I was sold. I know there will be tears  and, even though I'm just a few pages in, I know the movie adaptation will make me want to throw things but I'm embarking on this journey anyway.

Once we got home from our little mom and daughter afternoon and I had to rush and change into gym clothes so I could make it to yoga. I had never gone on a Monday night before and I really didn't enjoy it much. I love my Tuesday yoga and Wednesday yoga is different now that we have a new teacher but still great. On Thursdays my pilates instructor teaches yoga which I love because he really focuses on form in a way I feel my other instructors don't and finally Friday yoga is my favorite. On Fridays I have this really lively and funny, incredibly flexible little instructor called Ernesto that's always pushing for us to try harder and learn more while really making us work out. I didn't even crack a sweat tonight. I wasn't in the mood to go to the gym tonight to begin with so forcing myself to go just to be let down by my class was not definitely not the highlight of my day. After that was done with I came home and watched a few episodes of Goosebumps with a friend. I miss my 90s TV shows more than I could ever even try to explain. 

Tomorrow I've got spinning at the crack of dawn (which is actually in about two and half hours) and then I think I might spend the day cleaning. My room is a bloody disaster right now. There's clothes everywhere and none of my nail polish is put away where it belong. I've got books all across my desk, coffee table, and nightstand and I've really got to vacuum. I always tell myself I don't mind a mess but the truth is that any disorder at all makes me twitchy so I really need to get this under control.