Nic Notes

It's time.

After a lovely dinner with Meredith, a dear college friend, she told me that I needed to start writing. She probably used different words, but there were very yummy mango martinis involved so who cares, here I am.

So my last update was a long, whiny update from September, it's true. It's been a long, long time. Things have changed quite a bit since then. In October I turned 24, then in quick succession, the wedding season ended, my car was totaled in an accident (I was fine and it wasn't my fault), and one evening while randomly searching for jobs, I applied for one.

Well, that one job application paid off.

To sum it up, I had exactly two weeks to leave my old job, move to a new city and start a new one.

Life is busy. I travel a lot with my new job. A whole heck of a lot. I'm settling into my new place, and learning to live life in the city. I now wear big girl makeup, courtesy of a cash-hemorrhage at the bobbi brown counter. I'm on an undying quest to find cute comfortable shoes that I can walk to work in. I belong to an unbelievable gym that I visit a little too infrequently. I have a strong devotion to a gelato place I also visit too infrequently. Things are good, and I think it's time to start writing again.

The quarterlife crisis

I figured life after college would suck, in some way, shape or form. I had been warned about the super scary “real world” the place where people are mean and you most definitely cannot hand papers in late, ever. Or so I was told. It’s not the “real world” that has sucked. That part hasn’t been so biting. The part that has sucked has been me, and I totally didn’t expect that.

The people, they’re the same as they were in college, but for the most part, not soaked in alcohol. The bills, the taxes, the expenses – all expected. I was lucky in the health insurance department, but many people my age get completely screwed in that area.

When I left college, I had plans. I was going to live in an apartment furnished by IKEA. Sleek and bright and comfortable and fun and all mine. But then there was the whole deal with getting a job. I got one, near home, and out the door went my IKEA dream.

But the problem wasn’t living at home. I see my dad roughly the same amount as I did in college when I lived four hours away, though the costs are a little higher.

Nope, the problem is me.

You see, I had my dream of an apartment and a cool job, preferably one where I got to travel. That didn’t happen. I have an interesting job, there’s no doubt about that. But I don’t like it. I live in a perpetual state of being awkward. My suits don’t fit correctly, wearing high heels for 10 hours makes me want to claw someone’s eyes out, wearing pantyhose for 10 hours a day makes me want to wear them over my head and rob a Leggs/Hanes/Bali store, my hair gets frizzy and looks just like it did when I was two immediately after I walk into the building, I get nervous talking in front of people, I feel insecure 1,430 minutes a day, etc. and yeah, it’s just me.

I live a pretty good life. I’m lucky. Materially, I’m completely spoiled although it doesn’t stop me from wanting more. I am educated, I have healthcare, family and friends, etc. But right now… Right now, I’m kinda hating life.

And from what I gather, it’s perfectly normal.

First jobs? Well, apparently they’re like a stanky elevator on the way to something better. Oh, and you have no freaking clue which floor to get off on?

Dating? Men abound in college. They’re in your age group. They’re roughly the same maturity level (ha!). Outside of college, the guys in our realm (read: single, straight, and without prison records) are difficult to find, which doesn’t even take into account that you have to weed out the assholes.

Marriage? All of your friends are either married, engaged, or expecting to be engaged any minute now. I have two friends from college I can guarantee will not be married in the next year and that’s about it. One is partly due to gay marriage being not being legal, the other is due to her not being of the marriage mindset, like me. She’s my favorite. But yes, right now we’re all inundated with thoughts of marriage and settling down. And there is some pull to do that, but people, I am young, and selfish, and entirely not ready to settle down. And yes, at the moment it looks like I will have at least four weddings to attend next summer, and I fully expect another round of engagements before Christmas. Oh, and they’re all at different times and in two different seasons, and two are familial so I can’t wear the same outfit. Wait, wait, to make it even better, two are being held where I work. I have to find a date I can drag to all of this stuff soon… And freaking Jcrew.com is showing a picture of the dress in the center, but they do not sell it and I need it.

Body? WTF is my body doing to me? I have acne again, just like when I was 12. My uterus hates me. My ovaries hate me. My tastes have changed. I can now stomach foods, like cottage cheese, red peppers and others I never would have sampled before. My sweet tooth is dying down. It’s strange… My stomach will never be completely flat. I have to pluck my chin, wax my brows and quite frankly spend an inordinate amount of time grooming.

Emotions? All over the freaking place.

Friends? It’s the only thing that makes me miss living in a dorm. I had my awesome roommates and incredible girls down the hall. It’s so fun having your life synced with people, now it just doesn’t happen. They’re all great amazing people and I wish I could spend time with them and that we didn’t live in different areas and have entirely separate lives occurring, but we do. Nothing will ever be able to replicate that, ever. And I really, really miss it. Of course, it would help if they would all stop getting married. Bastards. You know, in a good way.

Life? What the hell am I going to do with mine? Does anyone ever know for sure? This uncertainty sucks monkey balls. I should move. You know, to a city. A cool city. But which one? They’re all cool. I should find a new job. But which one? There are bazillions of cool jobs that I’d love to have, oh, and how should I qualify for said job? Grad school? Maybe? Maybe I should take a law school entrance exam. Maybe I’ll do that first thing Saturday morning. Yeah. Fun.

Right now, I’m not really looking forward to growing up anymore. While I want this part to be over, if another person tells me their twenties were the best years of their life, I’m going to kill them, because I’m a little worried it might be true and I’m just having a hard time enjoying it.

Do nothing on summer to do list? Check

So I did absolutely nothing on my summer to do list, but it's time to start my holiday to do list which is a lot more involved and in a way, I'm already behind. By now, I have always purchased my holiday cards for the season. I have yet to do so.  However, I think I have found the ticket from 16 Sparrows:

Or maybe I should just get this to solve my to do list issue:

When all else fails, shop.

I need one of these for my desk to bring me some joy during my day.

I need to drink pomegranate martinis out of this.

And then maybe my life will be complete.

In fact, I do exist

I know people have been wondering where I've gone. I'm still here. At least, technically I am. I paid for it at least.

Nope, I haven't been off completing my summer to do list. Actually, I only joined WW. And then forgot about it.

No, I've just been busy. And I just haven't known what to write. I end up reading other people's blogs because I'm tired and they're far more interesting.

Oh yeah, and then there's the LSAT studying. Let's just say it's not all fun.

I will write more, soon. Really.

PS I totally can't believe I'm considering spending money on this instead of simply using my classic college-ruled.

but I'd rather eat candy...

Well, all diet plans have gone out the window now that I sit in front of books prepping myself for the LSAT. And you know what, it's not fun. I do not care if Andy and Bobby and Carrie are in a row boat with three rows and they have to sit two by two and  David, Ernie and Frank have absolutely no desire to sit near Andy or Carrie and will only sit next to Bobby if Bobby is directly behind Ernie and  Andy and Bobby won't sit next to Carrie.  What they really need is a disciplinarian to  tell them to just sit down and shut the hell up already!

oh yucky hotness

I was going to sit down and finish talking about my shoes today because what could possibly be more fun than that?

But now I'm thinking it's too hot. And not only is it too hot. My allergies are too bad. My eyes are all itchy and my nose is all runny and Ick. I hate this weather.

Shoeblogging: The Epidemic

If  there's a bandwagon, I'm jumping RIGHT on. So now, I shall shoe blog. For your pleasure. I took pictures of my shoes and reassured myself that my floor and baseboards looked clean enough since I ran a papertowel over them quickly. I was wrong. Wrong. Wrong. While the mush of leftover cobwebs were invisible to the naked eye, the camera magnified them. So this is actually shoe/dustbunny blogging. Enjoy. And, you know, judge me.

We shall start with the good. The very, very good.

From left to right these are my favorite of favorites. The best of the best. The ones I should wear more often.

1. Jones New York slingbacks $39.99, these get a lot of work wear.

2. Nine West, purchased at TJMaxx for an incredible $29.99. I love these shoes.

3. Mootsie Tootsies, purchased at some weirdo mall shoe outlet for a whopping $7. I have worn them exactly once. They are not comfortable but they look awesome on my feet.

(Typepad ate the rest of this post so I am going to have to come back later. There are LSAT study guides to be read and far less swearing at Typepad to be done.)

Not kidnapped by Madonna

Eek! I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted. Bad blogger! Bad me!

I went to see Madonna last week.

It was... you know... okay.

I had a fantabulous time with my mom and my sister. We drank martinis and Malibu Bay Breezes and wine and enjoyed the company. It was a blast. We stayed in a Sofitel and they had the most amazing beds in the entire world. Seriously, if I travel, I will look for a Sofitel in a city before I'd look for a Four Seasons, Hyatt or and Historic Hotel of America. Hands down. They had down feather beds and down comforters and amazing down pillows. I wanted to move in. My sister and I shared a room while my mother lounged lazily all by her lonesome in her own special suite. Ali, my sister, worked for Clinique at one point and reconfigured my entire cosmetics life. We chatted about our lives, bitched about politics, hit on men in the hotel bar and drank more martinis (Pomme Rouge martinis to be exact - sour apple pucker, vodka and cranberry juice, ah.)

Of course, the other exciting parts of the trip included a power shopping trip to JCrew where I got some awesome new clothes and mom singlehandedly putting me on the Fat Flush diet.

The non-exciting part of the trip was Madonna.

Yeah. Madonna. Not Exciting.

She was an hour late for her concert and when she did show up, it just wasn't a big WOW thing.

I would have been impressed by the performance if it were Ashlee Simpson, but for Madonna I was totally expecting more. And so were my mom and sister.

As for the Fat Flush, yeah, I'm doing that now, albeit a little half-assedly seeing as how I haven't completely cut out the carbs, but I am taking all of the supplements. I explained that I simply cannot cut carbs until the planets align and my period is over. Why? My ovaries are PISSED at me for letting them get all butchered up. They might cause problems if I cut carbs. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself to put it off for another week. Mom swears by the FF, I'm pretty sure she'd even swear on our lives (actually, just on the other children's lives -- she knows that I'm the one who's going to make sure she doesn't start washing her hair with that bluing shit and protect her from the gold lame). So now I drink diluted, unsweetened cranberry juice all day, and take flax supplements and drink lemon water, and you know what, I think it works a little bit. I still haven't entirely neglected Weight Watchers, I'm still following most of those principles as well. We'll see how I do this week.

I will post, again, soon, I promise. Thanks Amie for making me remember!

A family outing.

I'm going to see Madonna in concert this week. I'm supposedly sitting in great seats. I'm going with my mother and step-sister and we're going to find something to wear at JCrew, eat a great dinner (drink wine), go to the concert, spend the night in a nice hotel, eat a good breakfast and come home. Sounds nice, right?

Well it is great.

Except for one teeny, tiny bit.

The airconditioning.

It seems that Madonna will not allow air conditioning at her concerts because it affects her voice.

Now, I'm excited about the concert. It will be a lot of fun. However, I am not excited about the 90 degree city heat with 30,000 other people. I'm sure Madonna herself will be incredible and therefore, I don't care if her voice cracks or squeaks during her performance. I do care if I'm hot, sweaty and near fainting. I imagine that all of Madonna's fans who aren't gung-ho stalker freaks probably feel the same. But something tells me that Her Madgesty wouldn't give a damn if 1 million people said the same. And her next album would probably have lyrics about dry humping an airconditioner or some crazy shit like that.