Today, we called the Toyota dealer to tell them we’d be in this Friday to give the Prius one last look before “deciding.” My mom mentioned that my only qualm with the car was the lack of AV hook-up for my iPod. The dealer then mentioned he might be able to do something about that – 45 minutes later, he calls back and says the mechanic there can change out the stereo system and add in an AV hook-up…all for the same price! I feel like Hannah Montana over here…you know, cause I’m getting the best of both worlds? Nothing? Moving on…

The rest of my day was filled with Passover shopping (I’m attempting to keep Passover this year, at least from Wednesday until Saturday. We’ll see how this works out) and work. Mainly, this week is going to be the obstacle in the way of  my beautiful new (to me) car.

As long as it hasn’t sold yet, I’ll be calling the car dealership tomorrow to tell them I want the Prius. I still maintain I’m terrible at making decisions.

Other than that, my main excitement of the day came  vicariously through my sister who saw Jason Segal at Rite Aid in LA. (Me=supremely jealous.) When asked for details,  my sister said only “he was getting a prescription and then looked at Easter Candy.” Good to know.

Remember how I mentioned my car shopping dilemma? New vs. Hybrid? Well, today that question got a whole lot harder. 

When searching for cars in the past few weeks, I’d really only found one that I was seriously considering: A new Chevy Colbalt. It’s a good price, so I can afford to get a new one with all the extras I want – XM radio, blue tooth, navigation, and best of all, an iPod plug-in. (Podcasts on the road!? Yes, please!!) They aren’t the highest rated cars, and we all know GM isn’t doing super well, but I’d be getting a lot for my money, and it’s a cute little car. (Just for reference: it’s the car I drove all last semester in LA, so I almost feel like I’ve already owned one.)

As much as I like the Cobalt, though, in the back of my mind, I’ve really been wanting a hybrid car. I’ve always thought that when I got the chance to get a new car, I would have to get a hybrid. I mean, not only would I get to save money on gas, but I also would get to save time! (I hate hate HATE getting gas, but who doesn’t?) Sadly I’ve realized while shopping that all new hybrids are out of my price range. Not wanting to give up on my hybrid dream, I did a little research and saw that ’06 Civic Hybrids and ’05 Prius’s were good used hybrids, so I stashed that pieced of info in the back of my mind and figured if I came upon one, then great, (and if it happened to be a pretty, beautiful blue Prius, even better)  if not, a Cobalt would certainly do. 

So with that info tucked away, I went with my parents to the Toyota dealership today to look at cars for them, when I happened upon, what else, but a pretty, beautiful blue ’05 Prius…in my price range. Was it fate? I don’t know, but I do know it’s what I’ve always said I wanted. The catch? No fancy add ons. No leather seats with seat warmers. No navigation. No *gulp* iPod plug-in (which was, I’m embarrassed to say, the measure I was using on all other cars). 

It’s hard for me to give up the car I’ve always said I wanted just because it doesn’t have bells and whistles I didn’t even know I wanted or could afford until last week, but it’s also hard to pay as much for a used car as I would pay for a brand new one with more features (although I would save a lot on gas…). 

So that is my dilemma. Dream car with some miles on it or alright new car with some sweet extras. I have to decide by Monday (with my self-imposed deadline) so I’ll keep you updated, as I’m sure you are all on the edge of your seat about my future car purchase.

Number one on my list: Talking to strangers in public bathrooms.

The time: This afternoon

The location: Border’s

The situation: I’m wasting time while my mom gets a manicure in the Border’s, having a perfectly lovely afternoon, debating purchasing This American Life season 2 on DVD (the affirmative side won resulting in me spending my evening with Ira Glass.) when I go into the bathroom. Everything is normal until the woman in the stall next to me does her business (pretty loudly) and then says, and I quote, “Wow!” It wasn’t to herself. It was loud and expectant, like she wanted me to answer, perhaps give some witty and commiserating comment about how she must’ve really had to go. Um…no?

Obviously, I remained silent and proceeded to finish up as slowly as possible so I could avoid contact at the sink with this bathroom talker. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go slowly enough, so as I approached the sink where she hovered, I looked down, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. As I dried my hands, the talker looked in the mirror, playing with her hair, then she looked at me and declared, “Looks like it’s time for me to get a haircut!” Um…awesome? What am I supposed to say? “Yeah, your hair looks awful, and by the way, you were right when you said ‘wow!’ before. You were REALLY loud in there! I’m Amanda, by the way. SO great to meet you!” Again…no! I do not come into the bathroom to make friends. I came in to use the bathroom and leave as quickly as possible, preferably, with little to no human contact. I didn’t come in here to comment on your bathroom loudness, bladder fullness or new hair-do.

Of course, I said none of this. Being the awkwardly polite person I am, I simply said “Must be the rain!” and smiled as she skipped out the door. Clearly, she is to blame for my DVD purchase. I had to salvage my journey to the bookstore. Yep.

And that is the story I’m choosing to kick of my April participation in NaBloPoMo. You’re welcome.

The last few days when I should have been recapping my trip to LA or my day trip to Annapolis, reading my TFA readings or  my new found novels, I’ve been online shopping…well, online window shopping, mostly for my future LA apartment. See, picking out items and decorating in my mind makes me feel less like I’m living at home for a few months and more like I’m just passing through, planning for my new fabulous life, which I suppose I am, even though it doesn’t feel like that most of the time.

Some of my favorite finds include:

1. 3-D Chandelier – Urban Outfitters

2. Autumn Kiss – Original Papercut Art – Tinatarnoff on Etsy

3. Yes Frills Jewelry Organizer – Urban Outfitters

4. EXPEDIT Bookcase – Ikea

5. Phone Gocco Screen Print – Labpartners on Etsy

6. Brighton/Vanity Desk – Crate and Barrel

7. Wall Art Vinyl Decal Sticker Decor Headboard – Art Wall Project on Etsy

8. Happiness Ring Catcher – Five Tress on Etsy

In searching for apartment dressings, I inevitably end up on Etsy, which then inevitably leads me to look at pretty, pretty jewelry (and the occasional purse and headband) for hours and hours. I mean, how adorable slash beautiful is this stuff?

1. Ruffle Linen Bag with Lace – Straige

2. Strech Me On Sterling Silver and Pink Swarovski Ring – Always Chic

3. Leaf in a Drop Earrings – Shlomit Ofir

4. Pearl Scented Rosebud Stud Earrings – hot-pins

5. Poppy Ring with Gold Centre – Simone Walsh

6. Citrine and smokey quartz double sterling silver necklace – Essensual Jewelry

7. Long Double Element Necklace – Simone Walsh

And now I guess you can add writing this post to the list of things I’ve been doing instead of what I should be doing. Ugh. Off to do some reading…maybe…oo look at this ring!

I’ve been in a weird funk all week, internet wise, and I’m not sure why, because I’ve had some things I could’ve blogged about.

I started working part-time job at a portrait studio. It’s actually the perfect part time job for me, besides the fact that I can only work for about three months before I leave. They knew that hiring me, though, so I don’t feel terrible about it. I’ve been training all week, learning how to use the fancy equipment (by photographing adorable stuffed animals on baby pillows) and memorizing all the package prices. It’s fun to utilize my burgeoning photography skills into a money making situation and to learn a little bit about portrait photography in the process.

Using fancy DSLR’s all day, however, was making me more and more sad that I hadn’t been able to buy my own DSLR that I’d been lusting after since July, especially now that I’m making money (and got a sweet tax refund), which had been my excuse for not buying a camera for the past two months. That mild sadness and frustration then combined with stress over my TFA readings (which are alternately making me feel mildly prepaerd and unbelievably unprepared) and the occasional lonliness of being at home with only  my parents to hang out with, thus making me super fun these past few days. After being sick of the funk, I  instigated many, many mildly tense conversations with my parents about how I’d really like to use my money to get this thing I’ve been wanting to get for months and months as a small reward for working hard, graduating early, and living at home to save money. I somehow convinced them it was a sound idea, found a way to finance it  and today, I went to Best Buy and got myself……

A BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL, NIKON D90!!!! SUPERPHOTOEXCITEMENTWOOHOOO!!!!!

I, of course, came home, waited impatiently for my battery to charge, breezed through the user’s manuel, and started snapping photos of my only available subjects:

My mom’s uber cute, super tiny dog, Sookie.

My dad – who happily posed for a ridiculous amount of photos.

And of course, myself, in the obligatory mirror shot to show off myself and my beautiful new toy. (There was one where I looked way more exicted, but I figured I’d attempt to look cool for a brief moment.)

Hopefully, I’m now offcially snapped out of the funk. This week I’m finishing training at work and will hopefully be moving on to photographing actual children soon. Next Sunday, I’m meeting Jillian in New York to see Sleepwalk with Me (more on that soon), then a week from Tuesday, I’m heading back to LA for a week!

For now, though, I’m going to go take pictures of snow.

As you may have noticed, I royally failed at NaBloPoMo this past week. I would feel bad, but as I didn’t have my laptop with me and was busy reading and having a nice time with my family, I’m alright with it. I did pretty well for my first attempt, and I’m more than ready to be blogging at more reasonable intervals. 

As for what I missed writing about, my Thanksgiving break was relaxing and overall, really fun. Thanksgiving day was spent cooking and chatting with my Aunt, who is a librarian at a school similar to one I’ll probably be teaching at next year. I also watched my cousin’s dog scare the bejesus out of my cat and ate some delicious food. All in all, a successful Turkey Day. 

Friday, I finally got my hair cut and colored (for the first time in August. *shudder*) and now of course, I look fabulous. Then  my family took an impromptu trip to Rehoboth Beach for dinner at Dogfish Head Brewery. Our waitress let us know that the town’s Christmas tree lighting was happening that night right down the street, so, of course, we had to go and mock the small town charm of it all while making crazy faces for a series of portraits. (Photos can be found here.) We’re clearly a special bunch.

Saturday, Steph and I somehow made our way to King of Prussia mall, which is oppressively large, where I bought some wonderful new flats and saw Danny Bonaduce! Twice! No joke. He was wearing freakishly tight pants. 

Sunday was filled with reading, relaxing, and watching The West Wing online with Stephanie. After finishing American Wife, which I ended up loving as much as Prep (which is to say, a lot – I highly recommend both), I of course had to go buy MORE books. This time, I went with some teaching books from a list Teach for America sent me.  

And now I’m back, and, thanks to my mom’s sickness through this whole break, a little sick. However, I will NOT let this ruin my last two weeks of college, because frankly, I’d rather be a little sick now than in two weeks when I leave for AUSTRALIA! Woot! 

Speaking of which, I’m going to be gone for about a month (3 weeks in Aussie then 1 week in LA), and I’ve already talked to my sister about helping me out with some guest posting around here, but if anyone else is interested in writing a little something while I’m gone, let me know! 

And, I think that’s it for this mildly ADD wrap up. Happy Tuesday!

Hello? Remember me? The owner of this little space on the internet? Yeah, me, who has trouble prioritizing blogging over things like homework, actual work, seeing friends, and um…sleeping? Yeah, that’s me. *waves* 

I hate neglecting this blog, but I’ve been so busy, that I seem to not only always have something to do, but I also seem to always have two things to do, thus I always feel guilty no matter what I’m doing. What fun! Case in point, this weekend, my mom is coming to visit, which I’ve been excited about for a while, but it is also the weekend I planned to go see “Title of Show” with my friends in New York. Way to write things down, Amanda! So now, I have to find someone to take my place in New York, because I would feel like a total bitch ditching my mom to go see a show. Boo. 

But this week has been eventful in many ways. Some of which I shouldn’t really talk about here…but I might…eventually. Stay tuned. (Please note: this is a time I wish I was an anonymous blogger. I finally get good stories, and I have to censor them. Double boo.) 

So without further ado, I present to you….a bulleted list. (Get excited!)

This week I…

• Had a phone interview for Teach for America that I thought went alright. It wasn’t my best phone interview ever, but I definitely didn’t bomb. I was tentatively hopeful. Well, today I found out, I got invited to an in-person interview! It’s the final step of the whole admission process and consists of teaching a 5-minute lesson and a personal interview, among other things. The interview is in two weeks, so now on top of all my other fun school work, I get to think of things to teach other people. That’s a good thing, right? Right. 
• Had a fun girls night out. Jillian and I had a ridiculously delicious dinner at Tremont 647 in the South End. My dinner consisted of a mouthwatering flank steak with pistachio pesto, roasted vegetables and HUGE rosemary tater tots filled with fontina cheese. Yeah…it was insane. I also had this beautiful pink gin cocktail. It’s my new favorite thing, basically ever. We then had to waste some time before our friends got off work, so we decided to go up to Top of the Hub, the restaurant/bar at the top of the Prudential Building to get a drink and gawk at the view. It was beautiful, and as an added bonus, we got to ride down 52 flights with three middle-aged drunk women who claimed to look like Jackie O and asked us for cigarettes. They also remarked that we looked like sisters since we had the same hair color. Good times. The rest of the night was spent at various bars on Boylston, where I overheard many drunken 20-somethings discussing their financial portfolios. I felt mildly out of place, but I’d been drinking since 7, so I managed. 
• Went on a 1AM run to IHOP with my friends. I even got to drive there in a Blue Prius! My main hobby in LA was counting Prius’s as I drove to work (one time, I saw over 70 in a day, and on my way from San Diego to LA, I spotted OVER TWO HUNDRED!) It was like a dream come true – my life coming full circle. We also discovered IHOP is the place to be after 2AM, as its the only place open after 2. Damn Boston bars and their early closing times, not that we’d been at a bar. We’d just been hanging out…and decided to drive to IHOP. At one in the morning. I know what you’re thinking: you wish you could hang out with people as cool as my friends. 
• Bought an AMAZING winter coat. I had an hour off of work, decided it was freezing, and ran two blocks to the Shops at the Prudential Center for some power shopping. I hit (in ONE HOUR) 344, J. Crew, Banana Republic, Saks 5th Avenue, Gap, and Free People. I, of course, found a coat at the first store I went to (344), but had to check everywhere else to make sure they didn’t have anything better. They didn’t, so I ran back to grab the coat. I even got $25 off for being a student. Power shopping win! It’s soooo pretty, and I’ve been wearing non-stop, possibly even when sleeping. I wish I were joking. 

Last week, my friend Lauren informed me that she was driving home (which happens to be 20 minutes from my “home,” aka where my parents live), and asked if I wanted to go with her so she wasn’t sitting in her car alone for 6 hours. After checking with my mom to make sure my parents were going to be home and not off running some half marathon somewhere, which happens more often than you would think, and learning that  my parents were actually going to visit  my sister in NYC for her birthday, I happily agreed to go.

Friday, we embarked on our journey from Boston to the Philadelphia adjacent area (Note: neither of us live in Pennsylvania. The East Coast is weird.) The ride down was fun and pretty normal, except for us spotting the first of many personalized license plates, which read “STOPAIDS”. (“I think that’s the weirdest way you could choose to show your activism.) We did get stuck on the New Jersey turnpike for over 2 hours, but as far as traffic goes, it was pretty par for the course. 

Saturday, my parents informed me that we were leaving at 7:00 to drive to Newark and take the train into Penn Station. Thus, I hurled myself out of bed at 5:45 (!!!) after not falling asleep until after midnight, since my body clock doesn’t usually allow me to sleep until 1AM, only to learn while I was drying my hair at 6:30 that we probably weren’t leaving until 8. (I learned this from my half asleep mom who stumbled downstairs at 6:30 having just woken up.) Thanks, parents! 

After driving and training into NYC, we ended up on Bleeker Street, where I immediately found a shoe store where numerous salesmen quickly learned how easy it is to sell me things. I ended up  buying some adorable new flats to replace the ones I wear all the time to the point that they have developed some attractive holes in the bottom. Stephanie met us there and bought some boots for herself. (I was very close to buying the last pair in the store, but out of sisterly love, I let her have them as birthday present.) We then got some delicious Indian food for lunch, as Steph was appalled my mom and I had never had Indian food. My mom and I decided that while it was good, all Indian food, from the soup to the curry to the rice pudding we got free for dessert, all kind of looks the same.

We then headed out the main attraction, Alter Boyz! The show is an off-broadway musical about a Christian boy band. It was HILARIOUS. Basically the boys – Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan, and Abraham (who’s Jewish) are on the last leg of their tour, during which they try to save the souls of everyone in the audience through the power of (amazingly catchy) pop music. I’d heard the music before, but the guys who were in it were all adorable and made it seem like new. They also made it seem like a legitimate boy band concert. (I should know, having been to FAR too many boy band concerts.) My favorite had to be Mark, who sings my favorite song, “Epiphany,” a lovely piece about being a Catholic that is actually about Mark’s poorly hidden homosexuality. Fabulous. Some guy (Neil…some, SYTYCD fans are going to yell at me for not appreciating this…) from “So You Think You Can Dance,” who Stephanie and I speculated may have been the only straight guy in the cast (proven by his shout out to his girlfriend in the Playbill) was Luke. I always love a TV tie-in. Anyway, I’d recommend it to anyone. Even my dad liked it. 

After that, we walked around Central Park and got a bite to eat at a diner until we had to head back. It was a fun little jaunt into the city, but like every time I head into New York, I became more convinced that it’s just a place I like to visit and not somewhere I could actually live. I am, however, looking forward to when I’m going back with my friends to see “Title of Show”‘s closing performance in October! 

This morning, I got up at a more reasonable hour and met Lauren to drive back to Boston. We managed to see many MANY more amazing license plates: BRIZZ, I-80, T COACH, T JAY 1, OMSAI (which we didn’t quite understand) JTDC (which Lauren is convinced stands for “Jesus Tap Dancing Christ”), and our personal favorite, a Massachusetts license plate which proudly proclaimed “FROM NJ,” which we we almost took a picture of in a rest area parking lot, but then people came back to their car, and I didn’t want to look crazy. This, of course, prompted us, not to stop trying to take the photo, but to run back to our car, jump in, and FOLLOW THE PEOPLE ONTO THE HIGHWAY. We are actually insane. I did get a picture though…of all of the plates listed above. I might have looked crazy and stalkerish, but these are going to make an amazing facebook album. 

Now I’m back in my apartment, waiting to watch the next episode of Mad Men and dreading the busy week I have ahead. I am happy, though, that I finally got to take advantage of the fact that my parents now live within driving distance of Boston.

First of all, thank you to everyone who complimented slash congratulated me on the move and the new design. I am super excited, in case the last post didn’t confirm that enough. 

Now, on to the task at hand: This summer has not been great for a number (read: a ridiculous amount) of reasons. To help get myself through, I have spent hours online thinking about all the things I could buy myself if my job paid me $200 dollars an hour instead of $10. Sometimes it’s purses. Sometimes it’s shoes. But most of the time, it’s electronics. I blame all you bloggy people with your iPhone google readers, and your twitterberry, and your damn beautiful pictures on your lovely DSLR cameras! Damn you all! *breathes*

So here, for all of you to see and possibly buy me, are the things I most desire: 

1) The iPhone. (Yes, I’m that original. Deal with it.)

First of, it’s sooo pretttttyyyyy. All smooth and sleek and touchscreeny. Who wouldn’t want to spend hours sitting out in the sun, browsing the internet with your fingers? Plus, it would be one less thing to throw into my ever expanding purse! And the fast texting, and the IMing: I could be in touch with everyone I’m so bad at keeping in touch with! Not the mention the constant twittering, blogging from exotic and exciting locals, and maybe even reading the paper on the subway without hitting the people next to me in the face as I attempt to turn the pages and fold the paper all at once. And did I mention….so pretty! But alas, it is still midly expensive AND I would have to switch to ATT+T which I’m so not about. Which leads me to…

2) The Blackberry!

The ultimate LA status symbol: I never really thought about getting one until I sat in bars while “abroad”, multiple times, as the only one who didn’t have her Blackberry out on the table, waiting for someone to BBM me. I felt like such a nerd when I pulled not my silver flip phone with no discernibly cool features. Again, it has all the perks of fast texting, browsing the internet on the go, and again, the status symbol thing. While not as pretty as the iPhone, I’m sure I could manage. 

3) The one I’ve been thinking about a lot lately (and probably the reason I wrote an entire paper this morning, two days before it’s due instead of on Wednesday or Thursday as I’d originally planned): A DSLR Camera – or more specifically, the Canon Rebel XSI. 

While I’ve been wanting to be awesome at photography for quite some time (in addition to my desire to be a great painter slash drawer, which will never EVER happen), I’ve always been discouraged by how my pictures come out looking ordinary and boring. After learning the basics of photography in my video production class last year (as filming is just photography with movement), I realized it was probably my camera that was holding me back from really improving. I upgraded to a new Canon Powershot, which is really an awesome camera in terms of point-and-shoot cameras. Then while on my trip to Israel, my friend Jessica had her DLSR camera and was taking RIDICULOUSLY amazing pictures. No matter what I did, mine still didn’t compare. (See also, my shots of Provincetown this past weekend. Even with Photoshop tweeking, they don’t measure up. I tried to take about eight shots of my friends walking down the street at night, and each one came out worse than the last. “IF ONLY I COULD OPEN MY APERATURE! DAMN YOU HIGH ISO NOISE!”)

Adding to these growing frustrations was my reading the live blog from the Building Traffic through Content and Community session at BlogHer, which suggests getting a DSLR to add some personality to your blog. I realized how much I’d been wanting to do this, but couldn’t, because I never have pictures I feel are worth sharing. (One day I tried to take pictures of my walk to work, which is really a beautiful walk, but they were nothing like I wanted them to be, so they are sitting on my computer doing nothing instead of here, as part of the witty and stunning post I’ve composed in my mind.) I realized some of my favorite bloggers are my favorites because of their photography. I then started getting obsessed with looking at these lovely ladies’ photographs, again getting jealous and wishing I could capture my life in the ridiculously beautiful way they capture theirs. 

Basically, what this leads to is the past week of my life, researching cameras, having my friend Jen take me to Best Buy (where she works) to show me the camera I’ve been thinking about (said Canon XSI) and me taking better pictures of her standing in the store on this camera than I have ever taken with any of my point-and-shoot cameras. I obviously have to have one. 

If only I got paid $200 an hour, it would only take me five hours to earn one. 

In the meantime, I am taking a photography class this fall, where we shoot on 35mm film cameras and develop the photos ourselves. (I may or may not be a little too excited to spend time in a dark room.) I figure if my thoughts are correct, if with the right tools I can take some quality pictures, I’ll attempt to upgrade to the DSLR with some money (maybe birthday money?) to be stolen found at a later date. 

I was going to write about how if I got a new DSLR camera I could clearly need a new Macbook Pro to handle all the RAW pictures I’d be uploading and editing, which my computer now clearly could not handle as Safari “unexpectedly quit” twice while I was writing this entry, but I think if my parents read this, they will have a heart attack, so I’ll stop now.