awkward/awesome thursday + no jeans day 1

cords: Loft; tee: Target; cardigan: Gap; scarf and shoes: Old Navy

It's Thursday again (already!)...

Awkward:

• Deciding to issue a no jeans wearing challenge right when it gets cold again. As if I want to wear a skirt now!
  
• Car shopping - pretty much everything from having a salesperson ride in the back while you drive around (and wondering if he's judging your driving skills) to having him ask you "what price would keep you from going somewhere else?" feels awkward to me. Negotiating is awkward, but so is having a car that's slowly falling apart, so we'll go back to finish the deal sometime soon...
• Packing up your stuff to walk home from the bagel shop and then realizing that tornado sirens are going and the sky looks rather ominous in the direction of your house. That's more scary, I guess - the awkward part was trying to appear in need of assistance. But it worked, and two nice moms with a minivan offered me a ride home.

Awesome:

• Digging out these pants to wear in lieu of jeans and realizing that they fit better than they did the last time I wore them (last fall).
  
• Not having the furnace kick in for several days... and being in a house that's 4 or 5 degrees warmer than what the thermostat is set for. Comfortable and money saving! (In July, don't remind me how awesome I thought this was in March. It'll just annoy me then.)
• Daffodils in bloom.
• Peter spending much of his day off over the weekend doing our taxes. I tried TurboTax this year since he's so busy, but I think our part-residency in two states really threw it off... said we owed Michigan over $1000 which is soooo not true and Peter took care of figuring out the right answers.

more awkward & awesomeness here:

#25: awkward & awesome thursday, installment 4

I feel like my week has been a bit more even-keeled than the more superlative descriptors of "awkward" and "awesome" (with the exception of my occasional crankypants moments), but it's Thursday, so here we go...

everything: remixed; Trader Joe's tulips: still going strong

Awkward:

• Figuring out taxes when you lived part of the year in one state and part of the year in another. And kept your job from state A. I was feeling so good about tax progress the other night... and then I hit the state ones, and they seriously confused my brain.
• Picking up Ginger's "business" and then having to carry it for the rest of our walk. And then when people wave as they drive by, forgetting what I'm carrying and waving back with a bag of poop. I don't think I'll ever get over the awkwardness/grossness of that one.

Awesome:

• Having a random guy (actually he turned out to be an ex-Bengals football player, which is also kinda random) at the gym ask me how far I ran after I got off the treadmill - and being able to say 4 miles. Yeah, me.
  
• Heated mattress pads. Even better than heated blankets.
  
• Meringue cookies - a light and airy, low calorie (i.e., practically guilt free) treat. I've made two batches of this recipe in the last few weeks - one with cocoa powder, one without (both yummy) - and almost singlehandedly eaten them all.

more awkward & awesomeness here:

#19: awkward/awesome, installment 3

belt: H&M; everything else: remixed

Awkward:

• The angle of the camera lens after it did a nose-dive during one of my self-portrait sessions. OOPS. Got to figure out where I can get that fixed, and in the meantime Peter's been kindly taking my photos before he heads out for work.
• Ginger's crouch stalk-mode approach every time we see the nice lady from around the corner and her two little dogs. It makes it seem like she wants to pounce and eat them or something. Also, her jumping three feet in the air at the end of her leash in trying to greet the lady. I clearly do not have control over my dog. Ugh.

Awesome:

• Spring weather in February. 65 and sunny is the best - it makes me unbelievably cheerful to leave the house without a coat this time of year. And now I will stop talking about the weather all the time, I promise.
• Trader Joe's flowers. Yellow tulips and daffodils also make me very cheerful, especially when I can have bouquets of both for a grand total of $6.68.
• It's Friday tomorrow. Which means Peter doesn't have to go to work after he gets up! And we get to sleep in our bed at the same time for the first time in 2 weeks! And we get to go out!

awkward & awesome, work and weather edition

Awkward:

• Dressing for travel from a cold place to a warm place. Layers are of course good, but I didn't want to be carting my coat and boots all the way to Florida yet needed to not get frostbite between the parking lot and the airport. It was 5 degrees when I left home.
• Peter's backwards schedule. I think he's working the same number of hours as normal, but somehow when he works them at night and then sleeps during the day, we seem to end up with much less time that he's actually awake at home (to be honest, a better A-word for this might be awful).

Awesome:

• My work from home schedule. Despite my issues and the fact that Peter's schedule is awkward/awful, it's really nice that I'm actually home for the few minutes he's awake around here. If I had to leave the house to work, I basically wouldn't see him this entire month.
• Getting upgraded to first class. I got enough frequent flier miles from work travel last year to become a silver medallion member, which qualifies me for free upgrades. They give you meals and all the refills you can drink in first class (plus, the bathroom reserved for first class means no waiting in line!).
• Work travel to warm destinations.
• 80 degree temperatures, eating lunch outside, and going for a long walk sans coat.

No outfit photos ready yet, but today's involved short sleeves! And no socks!

see more awkward & awesome stuff here...

#5: awkward and awesome

shirt, scarf: Old Navy; pants: Loft; cardigan: Gap; boots: remixed

Sydney at The Daybook has a weekly Thursday series called "Awkward and Awesome", which is exactly what it sounds like: sharing awkward and awesome moments. I'm not one to turn down a good post prompt, so here's mine for the week:

Awkward:

• This self portrait thing - I kind of forgot about that when I decided to do the 30 for 30 challenge again. Taking photos with my camera timer and no tripod is awkward enough to manage (camera has fallen off of porch rail a couple times...), but having Peter do it for me can be worse... Cue nervous laughter.
• The red/peely nose I've got leftover from last week's cold and use of nearly two boxes worth of kleenex. When you're sneezing and sound congested, the look at least makes sense. When you're all better, it just looks weird.
• Forgetting that my Amazon.com account defaults to my old address. I hope the new tenants of our old apartment are enjoying Wolf Hall and Sense & Sensibility, but I'd kind of like them to send back that package back....
  

Awesome:

• Pretending it's spring by wearing a bright color and having some sun shining in my office window. There's hope!
  
• Having a full day off at the same time as Peter for the first time in weeks over the weekend. I like having him around - and as a bonus, he walked the dog several times, scrubbed the shower (one of my hated chores), and vacuumed. I really like having him around.
  
• Glee finally coming back with new episodes. Dark winter evenings really need some good song & dance.
• The smell of the roast I have cooking in the crockpot. I think we're going to have to eat at 4 or something - definitely not going to be able to hold off on it longer than that.
  

see more awkward & awesome stuff here...