Pump and Circumstance (The Graduation Post)

I had 2 dresses. The reason is because my university is relatively large, so there is a recognition ceremony for the individual schools, and then a big ceremony with orators and such with all of the schools combined.

On the day of the recognition ceremony it rained with utter disdain for the happy occasion, complete with cold winds and chilly temperatures. So, I was incredibly out of place in this number:




Thank goodness we had to wear our robes. But I really like the bold colors of this dress. I wore it with my new favorite foot-murdering Bakers silver peep-toes. I really weighed my options between the two dresses I had regarding the above dress and the dress I am about to show. I felt much more comfortable spending graduation day (with the greeting people and dinner and all of that) under my coat in this dress. To my pleasant surprise, particularly since both were purchased for less than $20 the night before, I got lots of compliments on both.




PS, I realize this post has nothing to do with pumps, I just thought the title was really cute. :-)

I Got Tagged

Holy thunder clap, Batman! I just got awakened by the biggest crash of thunder I have heard since Hurricane Katrina hit. Of course, it's not raining that hard, thank goodness, but it set off a couple of car alarms. Oh well, perhaps nature was just waking my lazy butt up to finish all these stupid papers I have due, study for my test, and post on my blog. So...I got tagged, yay!

Ahhh, yeah...I have been waiting for this! My first tagging! Here we go:

* Create a link to the person who tagged you.

* Mention the rules for this game on your blog.

* Tell 6 unimportant things/(bad) habits (unspectacular quirks) about you.

* After answering the questions tag six other people and link them in your blog.

*Tell the people you've tagged about it in their own blogs.


I got tagged by the lovely Jovana @ Gimme A Chance, thanks, and sorry I didn't put it up sooner, I just didn't know who to tag!

1. I have my closet organized in color order. As much as I love prints and patterns, they drive me crazy because I have a hard time placing them. It goes from tops, to skirts and pants, to jumpsuits/overalls, to dresses, and then jackets and coats. My shoes are in color order too, from sandals, to flats, to pumps, to boots, to sneakers/trainers. I also have all of the hangers facing the same way. It makes others look at me funny but I am really serious about it. Luckily for me few people see my room...or my blog.

2. I like to notice patterns in numbers. For example, if a clock says 2:48 pm, I say aloud, "2 times 4 is 8," or if it says 11:12 am, I say "11 comes before 12, and it's also my birthday." I do it with dates, phone numbers, receipt totals, etc. I just try to keep it in my head...seeing as it's kind of irritating, and I am far from Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind.

3. I am incredibly forgetful. Since Friday, I left my wallet at a CVS (I decided to finally get one of those free discount cards, and totally left my crap on the counter), lost a parking ticket after I left the parking lot at the movies (we literally had just walked out of there and locked the door...wow), left my keys at the counter at Starbucks (when I realized it, the guy was grinning at me, holding them outward towards me when I turned around...and no, :-( he wasn't cute), and I lost my order pickup slip at Five Guys (Famous Burgers & Fries...mmmmm). It's only Sunday morning!

4. I have the entire collection of V.C. Andrews books, R.L. Stine's Fear Street books (I know there are multiple collections, and yes, I have them all), Christopher Pike's books, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books, all the Harry Potter books, and all of the Georgia Nicholson books (I hear they are making a movie! I am definitely going to see it). Oh, and I had all the Babysitters Club (and Babysitter's Little Sister) books, Sweet Valley books, and Archie comics, but I gave them away at garage sales and stuff. Most kids my age at my school had a Nike habit, a jewelry habit, or a car habit that they or their parent's supported. As the biggest dork that ever lived, my parents supported my book habit, and I was the biggest book fiend ever. I would sneak them into restaurants, bathrooms...church...wow, God forgive me. Apparently, I really, really, really liked to read about white kids, hahaha. But no, the "African-American" literature books were just a little too grown-up for me when I was in middle/beginning high school. I love the atypical ones now, not about "sexing somebody's man, gettin' out the game, getting revenge, and cursing up a storm in the process, oh, and maybe finding religion." Like Zane?! If you have never heard of Zane, it's probably best you don't look her up...she traumatized my virgin ears/eyes as a freshman.

5. I was supposed to be in a movie at age 9. Hahaha, I tell everyone this. Of course, no one cares, hence its unimportance. John Grisham is a writer from Mississippi (well, he lived there a while) who wrote A Time to Kill, and they wanted a local girl to play Samuel L. Jackson's daughter in the movie version. So, my cousin and I auditioned, and I got the callbacks, all the way to the end. Apparently, my mother finds out that the daughter gets raped in the story, and she decides she "ain't havin' it" and pulls the plug on the whole thing. I think she was worried it might traumatize me, or that at 9 I wouldn't understand what was happening, I don't know. That's how I remember it, anyway. In the end, perhaps deciding Mississippi moms are too uptight (yeah right), they went with the adorable girl who played young Anna Mae Bullock (Tina Turner) in What's Love Got to Do With It? (that's a G.O.A.T. - Greatest Of All Time movie if there ever was one). Well, she mostly does Disney crap now, but she got to be on Even Stevens around the time I decided Shia LaBeouf was my supremely hilarious soulmate, so I sometimes shout to the heavens, Rae'ven Larrymore Kelly stole my career! Haha, I'm joking.

6. I can't live with people. Well, not in small spaces. I spent my first 8 years as an only child, but we lived in cramped quarters. I had to share all my stuff with my cousins and such, and when we finally moved on up (to a deee-luxe suburb in the sky), I then had a sibling (and then two siblings) to share with. As a teen, I was far removed from the family living-wise. I was relegated to the slave quarters (haha, guest room) behind the kitchen when my sister was born, and got used to - no, relished - the privacy. College living situations feel like a huge step backwards, but I am so broke. Living with roommates can really suck. I can love them to death, but I just never want to see their stupid faces every single day. No matter who I have lived with I find myself groaning in annoyance when I would see their car in the driveway or their light on. It's agonizing, especially since I don't know how to fix it. I don't know how I would live with a guy. Seriously. When I come home, I mellow out and turn off. I don't wanna be bombarded with sound and talk and anyone's f-ing aura/presence/ambiance constantly. I like quiet at home. I have never had a roommate that felt the same way. I got along with all of them but wanted their heads on stakes by the time I moved out. Not literally, of course. Does no one relax...quietly when they come home? Hands?

Ok, finally done. I am tagging people, hoping they haven't already done this.

Gloria @ <3 Life <3 Style
Aisha @ coloured bleu
Secretista
Any or all of the willing contributors (Susan, Pamela, Wendy-May!) @ R.O.F.Y.
Ana @ Snazzy Fashion
Molly @ Fashionyou

Spring Is Finally Here!

Here is what I wore to introduce spring. It was a little chilly Friday morning, hence the trench coat I am in love with. I am so glad that it's warm! There was torrential rain on and off today, so I am already missing the weather of Friday.

Dress: Target, uber-cheap thank-you-very-much
Trench Coat: Romeo & Juliet Couture
Shoes: Nine West, a whopping 19 bucks! :-)

I got much grief for the shoes not "matching" despite the fact that was the point. I thought the whole thing meshed surprisingly well and looked very simple. Lots of (well, four) pics because for once I didn't have to take my own on the stupid stairs with the crap lighting. Roomie was very cooperative...must be spring fever :-). I was so taken by the weather myself, that we did a bunch of stuff outside Friday that we never do, like exercise, and had so. Much. Fun. I know I suck at blogging regularly - I take more commercial breaks than an episode of Chappelle's Show, and I am sorry for it. I just can't stop procrastinating! I keep making plans to do better, but then I put them off. Typical.

Ok, So Get This...Reporting Live From the Hilton Hotel

I am so very glad I didn't make the promise to come back. I would have disappointed, surely! Yesterday was both hectic and confusing. First off, did anyone see how that tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta while the Mississippi State (go Bulldogs!) were whipping the Alabama Crimson Tide, totally disrupting the SEC tourney Friday? Even non-basketball fans may have heard about it, because the tornado ripped through a couple of other ATL landmarks.

What does that have to do with me writing, you ask? Well, for me to achieve the cheapest possible last-minute ticket purchase, I had to make a stop in Charlotte, NC. That's a big deal for me because I hate flying, and it makes me nervous. Generally, it takes a nice cocktail to mellow me out before the flight, but since I don't want to travel down Alcoholic Road, I try to be sleepy when I get on the plane so that I am so tired I can't even focus on being nervous. But I digress (as usual).

At the airport, I flew US Airways. Another sidenote: I try to avoid flying with both them and Southwest, but unfortunately they usually have the cheapest tickets. First off, US Airways seems to confuse departure time with boarding time. I was supposed to leave at 3:15, but the plane wasn't even empty until then. However, we didn't board until about 3:50, because they couldn't find the crew. Let me repeat that. They. Could NOT. FIND. The crew. For the plane. Anyway we end up boarding and sitting on the runway/tarmac/whatever for over an hour because the Charlotte Airport didn't think it was safe for us to fly in; they were freaking out about residual weather problems causing tornadoes like in Atlanta. I wasn't mad that they were concerned for our safety. I was very grateful, in fact. However, did they have to keep us TRAPPED in that tiny metal tube? I was sitting at the very back of the plane in the window seat and was feeling very constricted. I have to tell you, I don't do well in close spaces for extended periods of time (not flying coach, anyway). By the time we took off I was ready to strangle the woman next to me to keep her from sniffling. She sniffled for an hour. An hour! We were at the back of the grounded plane, not 5 feet from the bathroom. Just go to the bathroom! Arrggg!

But then Charlotte said the storm front passed and we were cleared for takeoff. After a generally bumpy ride, I entered the Charlotte airport, supposedly an hour before my next flight. I check the schedule and it has been delayed until about 9:30 pm! Ick. Oh well, I take a positive outlook and just thank goodness that I can grab a bite to eat at a restaurant or whatever. I finished eating, but it was just 8 pm. I thought about just lounging in the restaurant and watching Without a Trace (my Cold Case substitute) but something told me to check on my flight. Lucky that I did, for it had been pushed up to 8:30, and I was at the other side of the huuuuuuugge airport! I made a mad dash for the gate, got there, and a flight to Nashville or Newport News or something was there instead. I checked the gate again, and they had changed it. I ran to the gate, expecting to board right away, but nothing doing. The entire Charlotte airport was in chaos. Everywhere I went people were running, trying to catch flights. I sat there until 8:45 receiving no information from the service people and listening to an Adam Levine look-alike playing John Mayer songs on his guitar. Then our flight info screen changed to info on a flight to Augusta, GA! That was the final straw and I went to find out what happened.

You guys know I can make a short story long, and this is already long enough, so I will get to the nitty gritty as best I can. The flight was canceled, then it wasn't, and then it was again. They started putting us on new flights, but as it's Jxn, MS, there aren't that many, so they filled up fast. I would have had to leave Charlotte on Monday, or go to a nearby city like Birmingham, Al or Memphis, TN to get home. But then, (luck o' the Irish! ha ha) a reservation opened up and now I am flying out this afternoon. They gave us (gorgeous) hotel rooms and here I am. I just pray nothing else goes wrong. Stay tuned!

Ok, So Get This...

I have bad luck. But, not in the got-held-up-in-a-back-alley or I-lost-all-my-money-gambling sense of the phrase: just really small things that hinder my daily progress/make others laugh at my minor misfortunes. Overall, I know life is good for me, but the cynic comes out of me every now and then. These are everyday occurrences and not wholly unusual, but the way they tend to pile on seems straight out of a movie/tv show. So incredulous are my mother and friends when I regale them with tales of my day (cuz I have to vent of course) they often say, "you should write these down!" And, now I will be.

Last night, I went through the elaborate process of budget hairstyling and managed to achieve a semi-perfect blowout, springy curls and all. Like any "beauty is pain" mantra worshiper, I endured a fitful night of sleep on balled fists to preserve my coiffure (yeah, it was that good). Because I took so long dipping into REM sleep, I woke up late. Jumping into my non-ironed clothes was punctuated with a frantic search for my gloves, resulting in spilling a large glass of water on my (closed, luckily) brand new laptop. Freaking out, (natch), I mopped it up with a towel: a towel on which were attached...dunh-dunh-dunh...said gloves, now sopping wet. With no time to cry over spilled milk - er, water, I headed out the door to begin my daily subway journey to university.

On the train, I mention the rain to my friend, and he makes an "umbrella-ella-ella" joke. I proceed to rant about how played the phrase is (it's 2008, people!) and the song as well. Like usual, I got dramatically overzealous in complaining about how overrated Rihanna and the Dream (songwriter) are in my distaste. Nothing new there. Upon leaving the Metro stop, I opened my umbrella (eh, eh) only to have it close on my head. Like a Venus Flytrap. The nifty little compact with the pop-out function snapped. I tried to force it back open only to realize I would have to hold it open the entire uphill journey to class (which isn't short, I should mention). Great.

Upon reaching class, I realize that my semi-closed umbrella caused a steady accumulation of water to drip, drip, drip onto my shiny bouncy hair, reducing it to a stiff, frizzy nest, as it would stay until the close of my day. As I pulled out my (soggy!) notebook from my (open!) tote, with numb red hands I concluded three things about God, or Karma, at least: He loves irony, has impeccable comedic timing, and is a huge Rihanna fan.