Caturday: A good investment

Even before we adopted Sydney, we had made all sorts of pet-related decisions. Some of these stuck and proved to be pretty useful; for example, the unisex name we chose in honor of our honeymoon destination, the Spray Bottle of Justice (which I only need to look at meaningfully in order to get him to stop whatever terrible thing he’s doing), and the Greenies that were crucial in keeping him happy on the way home from the shelter (the slowest GP has ever driven, and likely will ever drive until we’re bringing a baby home for the first time). Others, well, not so much. The scratching post that I believed would be crucial to keeping him from clawing all of our belongings? He could not care any less about it. The super-soft kitty bed? Well…that was pretty unpopular until recently. However, in the mornings when we’re not rushing off to work, he’s been gravitating to it. And this afternoon, as we’re camped out in the living room, shouting at college football?

He’s curled up in his bed, in a quiet corner of the study. I’m pretty sure this is his “leave me the eff alone with the camera, lady” face. Oh well– at least I know that that bed is finally worth it!

In which I let the internet dress me (again)

So, here’s the deal, y’all: I’ve been in search of a new fall-to-winter coat for this year, with our upcoming trip to London (less than six weeks to go…) in mind. I had originally had a classic trench coat in mind, but I can’t find anything that looks like I don’t want to be called “gumshoe” (hey, remember Carmen San Diego?). It’s not going to be freezing when we’re there, but I trust that it will be chilly enough for me to want to enfold myself in something cozy, and it never gets that cold out here, so I don’t need anything too heavy-duty. Enter Forever 21, home of cheapie coats! The problem was, there were two equally adorable choices…and I came home with both of them, torn over which would be the one to make the transatlantic and fall-to-winter journey with me. As it turns out that I am sometimes incapable of making wardrobe choices for myself, I am turning to the kind strangers (and friends!) on the internets, who are more than willing to tell me what to do!

What’ll it be, folks?

Charcoal with snaps and a zipper closure, hits mid-thigh

Or…

Red double-breasted peacoat, hits at the hip

Be still, my heart

(Yeah, clearly I have A Type: dark and handsome. Those hairless, overmuscled dudes look too much like that weird cat that Rachel on Friends had for two-thirds of an episode.)

(Mad Men 4-eva!!!)

Caturday: On the road

We’re at Disneyland for the weekend, and it seems that we couldn’t get through the packing process without someone ensuring that our clothes would be just as coated in cat hair on vacation as they are at home.

Oh, hey, I see you're going on a trip. Can I come?

But I fit so perfectly in the bag! See?

Whatever, I'll just stow away. You'll never even notice me and my Crazy Eyes!

The Meet-iversary

Four years ago today, I met this dude in a restaurant for a first date that would end up lasting eight hours. And I didn’t even kiss him! Good thing he still decided to marry me.

Look what came in the mail today!

With plenty of time before we head down to Disneyland this weekend, my early-birthday gift showed up on our porch. Because I am a nerd, I decided to do a full OOBE, complete with photographs (and dude, isn’t photographing the unpacking of a camerapurse pretty meta?). You’re welcome!

Caturday: Sydney ventures outdoors

Our house is on a street (it’s called a “court,” but as it is not a cul de sac, that is an issue of constant mystery to me) that dead-ends into a wall that blocks much of the sound of a major freeway. Given this, and the fact that I am generally paranoid about the safety of our pet, Sydney is not allowed outside. But, oh! How he does dream of the outdoors. He’s not sure what exactly is out there, but he seems pretty convinced that it’s much better than what we’re offering him inside the house. When we’re hanging around the backyard, he can be counted on to be continuously yowling at a window, or at least generally looking wistful in some window or other. See?

Eventually, all the meowing was just too sad for us to deal with; we had to find a non-terrifying (for me) way to let the cat enjoy the outdoors, if only for our collective sanity. The solution, which I’m sure makes us look like crazy people, was a little kitty harness– now he knows that, if he wants to go outside, he has to have some supervision, as well as the harness, with which he has forged a tentative peace. (The first time I put it on him to get him used to it, he alternated between crouching and sprinting at top speed around the house. It was pretty hilarious for us, but probably not as much for him.) In order not to look like The Most Insane Pet Owners Ever, we only ever hang out with our harnessed kitty in the backyard, and he seems grateful for it.

This alert look is basically his permanent expression when he's outside-- there are things to catch out here!

He has managed to wriggle free from the bonds of the harness a couple times, much to my terror, but in general this seems the best way not to keep him completely incarcerated– you know, in a house in which he has free reign and no shortage of toys and other miscellany to play with/destroy. (Turns out cats are crazy. Who knew?)

New hotness

So, ok, aside from my fashion plea yesterday, I’ve been a little absent. Rather than apologize (because what is worse than blogging about blogging? Very little, is what), I’ll just say that I’ve been wine-tasting, getting excited at the prospect of a new job, watching a lot of baseball (hey-o, Wild Card race!), devouring Mockingjay, and getting excited to tote my new (to me– it’s a PaGP hand-me-down) camera to Disneyland. But the idea of either carrying around the bag that PaGP gave to me, which is a straight-up “hey look, everyone! There’s an expensive camera in here!” bag, or schlepping it around inside one of my several cavernous purses…well. It makes me more than a little nervous. Having seen some gorgeous handbag-looking camera bags recently, I decided to look around and see what I could get for a slightly more reasonable price. Enter Jo Totes! Besides being fun to say (“Jototes! Jototes!” Great, now it looks like a Spanish word), they. Are. Adorable. GP, being a wonderful husband and all-around awesomeface, suggested that one of these might be a good early birthday gift; my birthday isn’t until the beginning of December, but who am I to argue? So, friends, meet my new friend, which will hopefully be here before we leave next week for Disneyplace:

So cute, right?

And look at all that fits inside! You mean I can carry around my camera AND my apple?

Ladies with Big Fancy Cameras– what do you use when you’re gallivating about, snapping to your heart’s content? Have you heard anything, good or bad, about Jo Totes? Will you be annoyed if I say that I am “totes” excited about its arrival? (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

[Pictures borrowed from the Jo Totes website.]

What (not to?) wear

When it comes to clothing, I generally know what I like, and have a fairly solid idea of what suits my body. All of this confidence (such as it is), though, is apparently completely useless when contemplating what I’ll be wearing to a second (!!!) interview at an academic library tomorrow. For the first interview, I wore a shrunken black blazer, red ruffled tank, and black pants; the shoes, though adorable, gave me a record number of blisters as I took an unintentional tour of the campus on my way to the interview. I’m thrilled that I’ve been invited back for a lunch interview (we’ll be eating somewhere on campus, I assume), but am in quite the pickle: what the heck am I going to wear? GP and a librarian friend have cast their votes for two separate outfits, I have my preferences, but…I need some validation. Or whatever you can call it when the internet is voting on what you should wear.The options? [Apologies in advance for semi-terrible pictures. I’m still afraid I’ll drop the Nikon when photographing one-handedly.]

Blue pants, a black and blue tie-neck top, to be worn with a low bun and black flats. How very librarian-y.

Brown pants and a flowery top, probably topped with a red or brown cardigan...red shoes?

Glen plaid pants, a light pink tank, and a long open ivory cardigan. Likely with bone-colored flats.

Red tie-neck top and brown pants...shoes undecided.

Brown pants with a salmon square-neck top

White linen button-down with blue pants

Please to keep in mind: this is an art library, and it is supposed to be 85-95 degrees tomorrow. No pressure or anything, but if I don’t get the job, I’m pretty much going to hold y’all responsible.