there is no growing in knowing where you're going

Hello! I have a lot of exciting and thought-provoking topics to discuss today, but first and foremost, I have to talk about the supersweet care package I received in the mail today from my darling tall brown girl! I was finally able to make it to the apartment office before closing time, and retreived my PURSE and my strange lil Barbie notebook. The notebook strangely says:

"Sweat is the sweet des moistening the soul:hands are the wing with which ideals soa into great heights."

I don't understand it at all, but I love it and its sentiment about sweat, since I'm officially the sweatiest woman on earth.

Here is the fancy purse: I looove it because it is dainty and charming, yet surpisingly sturdy (excellent yarn choice!). I imagine Amanda probably was able to crochet it with her eyes closed and/or whilst watching tv, thus making it even more impressive. Now I know that if we ever really did live in a best friends commune, we can rest assured we would be clothed and/or accessorized as long as Amanda is around.

In other news, I feel it's time for my weekly Project Runway update (since the new episode airs tomorrow). Last week, in an attempt to substantiate the claim that "models, this is a competition for you too", the models got to display some personality and choose their designers and, in a surprising twist, choose the "fashion icon" their designer would be designing for.

They even interviewed a couple of the models, actually giving them names and whatnot! Also one model was revealed to be real chatty and annoying...I mean, she annoyed her designer, and he's used to being around pageant queens, so that can't be a good sign! In the end, Michael won, since apparently hot pants are "in", as evidenced by a) Michael's win and b) our observation of lots of hot pants at Cafe Adobe a couple of weeks ago. Here's the winning Foxy Brown-inspired creation:

In other random news, I noticed something odd/interesting a couple of weeks ago. I travelled to one of our manufacturing plants for a meeting, but none of the participants were to be found, so me and the 2 other downtown people wandered up to the engineering floor to see if anyone was around (in their defense, it was 4pm on a Friday). I noticed that this guy who I worked with for a couple of months during a turnaround had an office there...we only worked together for 2 months, and that was over 2 years ago, so needless to say we are friendly but not best friends or anything. Anyway, I stopped by to say hello and noticed that sitting on his desk right next to his computer was the turnaround mega-mix cd I made him 2 years ago! I didn't mention it or anything, and barely even noticed, but as I was driving home, I got to thinking, wow, this person whom I barely even know is still listening to a mix cd I made over 2 years ago! It wasn't weird, just sort of flattering and further proof that I make freaking awesome mix cds. It's strange to know you have some sort of (albeit minor and trivial) impact on random peoples' lives all the time.

As we all know from watching/memorizing High Fidelity, the making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.

On the subject of pop music (one of my favorite things) cheers this week to Christina Aguilera, whose new single is sort of great. I still sometimes find her vocal chromatic scale jibber jabber sort of grating, but her new song is pretty damn interesting. Kudos! Also, although I don't really understand his hot-guy appeal, Justin Timberlake deserves some praise for his latest single too. I can't even tell if I like it or not, but it is different and interesting to the ears, so thank goodness for that. Listen to that right after Nick Lachey's cornball ballad, and you will understand what I mean. So, well done former Mouseketeers. Jeers to Jessica Simpson who managed to rip off "Holiday" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" in one song. Good grief, when will the public finally get bored of her again?

Last weekend I visited Aneil's brand new Round Rock Premium Outlet Mall. It was gorgeous and I was gushing with pride because he worked so hard for the city to get it built. We walked through the whole thing, and I bought various and sundry designer items (including a Michael Kors skirt that I intend to wear whilst watching PR tomorrow). So if you are in Austin, make a trip out there and spend some dollars in Round Rock so my Aneil gets a bigger bonus this year.

I parted my hair on the other side last week, and everyone now thinks I got a haircut and/or look great. It's weird. My hair, however, is revolting and continuously tried to revert to the old part, so I keep mashing my hair against my head. I hope to win the battle.

I saw Adrienne today, so that was a treat. She is real pretty and great and was a good roomie for me, since she is the Bert to my Ernie. Also she talks to me about engineering projects, which not many other people do, since no one understands my job. Ah well.

I am really loving the latest book I am reading "The History of Love". Aneil claims that he has turned me into a "romantic" but I'm not sure that this is true. However, it is a relief to enjoy a book so thoroughly after reading a series of duds. "The Kite Runner" was okay but the writing was real sparse and of course, there were the nightmares I had about war. I like this current book, because every so often there's just a really great passage, and it makes me smile or yearn or FEEL something at any rate. Aneil critiques books based on the number of really great sentences that he reads in them, and I have decided to adopt this rating system as well. Lots of good sentences so far. I will chart it all up for you in Excel when I have a chance.

Spa retreat this weekend...that means Mom + Pedicure + Best Friend hanging out! I am so excited. 2 more days!

In summary, this week I love: former mouseketeers and their pop music innovation, blueberry instant oatmeal, red delicious apples, Dawson's Creek marathon on Noggin, and well crafted sentences. I do not love: the crappy stretch of highway between Austin and Giddings, the fact that Lifetime has replaced my 5-6pm Golden Girls with episodes of Reba, and the instability of the ethylene market.