Day 186 - Taxes!

Things I was planning on doing with my tax refund:

- Saving the money for rent

- Paying down credit cards more

- Taking ballet classes

- Buying new bedding I desperately need

- Saving the money for emergencies

- Taking it all out in singles and rolling around in it

Things I will be doing with my tax refund:

- Buying a new laptop I seriously NEED

- Possibly still taking ballet classes because I REALLY want to and just a few classes are easily under $100


I'm getting a decent refund this year and was not excited to realize I need to spend it on a laptop. I was hoping to save most of it for any emergencies or to get ahead on some payments. However, after some basic research and talking to oldest sister, I'm kind of excited to have a new, cute, little laptop. Although, after reading about laptops I have NO idea what anything is. Hmmm...maybe Neighbor knows about laptops and this could be an awfully good excuse to chat him up some more.

Day 185 - Only My Dad...

...would call me just to tell me to call him later.

This is after he asks me at 8:30am if I'm awake. I wonder what he thinks my work week is like.

Day 184 - Some Random Pictures For You!

^More effort than I ever put into making salad. It was yummy.


^This is what I wore when cleaning out storage. I didn't want spiders to touch my hands.


^Before going to the housewarming party.


^My fabulous manicure. Love the color? I do.

Day 183 - Two Convos For You

One with Legal Eagle and the other with Neighbor

Scene: LE and I are hanging out in my room as her parents were getting ready for us all to go grab breakfast. LE's cat is laying down (read: LE has a death grip on him) and LE is very hungover.

I pet her cat and he meows for the first time since LE was holding him.

LE: Why did you put a penny in him?

Me: What????

LE: Nevermind, it doesn't even make sense in my head.

Apparently she was trying to say something like I had put a quarter in a mechanical horse and he started up. Still doesn't make sense, but I laughed for about 5 minutes.

---------------------------------------------

Scene: I'm telling Neighbor what time it is (3am!) and saying I have to leave.

Me: It's way past my bedtime.

Neighbor: Do you even have a bedtime?

Me: I don't really stay up past midnight during the week.

Neighbor: What? Seriously?

Me: Yeah, I get up early usually.

Neighbor: So you like make yourself a cup of coco before bed or something?

I did not go on to tell him that I do sometimes make myself tea before bed. Instead, I probably rolled my eyes. Classic.

Day 182 cont. - An Unexpected Sunday Night Part 2

What else?

OK, how about random things I learned about Neighbor:

- He played a lot of sports when he was young and through high school (soccer, basketball and track for the most part). I would've never guessed.

- He produces music. He let me listen even though he said he doesn't really let people listen. Special.

- He never graduated college. During his senior year he left to move out here. I had no idea.

- He worked with Jenny McCarthy, has stayed in touch with her to do more work with her and said she was really nice. I died!

- He's done a lot more than I thought. Seriously. He's worked with tons of people and knows everyone. Quite the networker. Very unexpected.

- He's the youngest. Much older brother and sister.

- He has two broken Nintendos. Sad.

- He asks good questions. I asked WAY more, but his were more unusual, thought-out questions.

So yeah. There was more talk about our families, Scientology, ghosts, his dating past (not mine!), school, books, movies, music, our little neighborhood, work, childhoods, etc.

It was lots of fun and clearly I have a little crush on him (so long as the gf is over and out). Oh, and the whole night (after I told him I wasn't going to give up any good stories about myself just yet) he called me mysterious Molly.

Until next time...

Day 182 cont. - An Unexpected Sunday Night

Here we go!

On Sunday, Legal Eagle's parents were flying back home. She drove them and then went to Orange County to hang out with her bf, Double B. I then walked down to the store to get something for dinner. Upon heading back up the hill, I ran into Neighbor.

After some small talk, we got to this part of the convo:

Neighbor: What are you up to tonight?

Me: Nothing much really.

Neighbor: Movie night possibly if you guys aren't busy?

Me: Well, [LE] will be in Orange County tonight, but I'll be around.

Neighbor: Cool, I'll get in touch with you later.


Cut to 8:35pm on Sunday:

Me: (in head) Oh my god! He is sooooo dead to me, officially! And obviously totally not interested in me if he has a chance to hang out alone offered up on a silver platter. I'm never hanging out with him again! I hope I see him this week and I'm barely going to acknowledge him. He's going to seriously have to beg if he ever wants to have a movie night again.


Cut to 8:47pm on Sunday:

Cell phone beeps: Hey hey! Still up for a movie tonight?

Me: (in head) Yes! Now I'm going to make him wait for a response because no one keeps me waiting!


Cut to 9:05pm on Sunday:

I head on over. More small talk and then this...

Me: How was your weekend?

Neighbor: Hmmm...weird.

Me: What was so weird about it?

Neighbor: I think me and the girl I was kind of seeing broke up.

WHAAA??!!

OK, while I didn't get the dirt on her right away, I won't make you wait. Here it is:

GF of Neighbor: 22 (he's 28), goes to school for fashion, is into Twilight (he thinks it's dumb, phew), doesn't watch scary movies, doesn't listen to his voicemails, once freaked out when he didn't put a smiley face after a text, thinks she can sense evil spirits, has been dating him for about a month-ish, broke up with him over the phone when he called about hanging out today (Monday) and she said "Let's be friends. This just isn't working" or something like that, and once told Neighbor that he could never be like Edward (Twilight).

OK, this is a lot to deal with for me. First, he doesn't seem too broken up about it, but it's not like he's going to cry in front of me. Mostly he said it was weird. He did ask me if he should do anything, like get in touch with her. I mostly stayed silent, shrugged my shoulders and said, "I don't know." Second, she's not completely out of the picture as this happened yesterday. And I'm not about to be some filler, rebound or girl he can use to win her back (not that I think that is his style). I'll have to feel this out very, very carefully.


So, moving on to the rest of the night!


I got him to spill a lot, mostly a lot about his dating life. Obviously, I won't post it all on here because that isn't fair. Some very interesting stuff. He tried to get some good stories on me, but I don't share so quickly.

But, like I said, we did talk for 6 hours. I have no idea how it happened. Here are some highlight tidbits of convo:

Me: What was she like? (referring to another former gf)

Neighbor: She was alright. She was into movies.

Me: Cool.

Neighbor: Yeah, but she wasn't like into horror movies and all the weird stuff. She wasn't cool like you.

----------------------------------------------------

Neighbor: I can't remember how you said it, but you came in all like, "I watch all the '70s and '80s horror movies." I was like, "What?!"

Me: I love '70s and '80s horror movies.

Neighbor: That just sounds so good. Say it again.

Me: (eye roll and laugh) I love '70s and '80s horror movies.

----------------------------------------------------

Neighbor: So what got you into liking horror movies?

Me: I don't know. My sisters and I were always into them. Watched them since we were little.

Neighbor: Hmmm...what was the first one you watched that got you into it?

Me: (long pause) When I was little, I remember watching some horror movie on TV with my mom and sisters while my dad was in Chicago looking for somewhere for us to move, I think. My mom let us watch this horror movie about strippers being killed. I wish I could remember the title. I can't believe my mom let her 7-year-old daughter watch a stripper murder movie. (Note: I later remembered the title was Ladykillers.)

Neighbor: Strippers, hmm...that's cool that you can remember that. We totally have to find it if it was like your first horror movie thing. That's huge.

----------------------------------------------------

Obviously, horror movies are a lot of the talk between us, but there is other stuff.

Me: I hate texting sometimes. You can't have a conversation that way and everything gets confused.

Neighbor: Yeah, and all the shorthand. It takes me forever sometimes because I write everything out correctly.

Me: With correct punctuation?

Neighbor: Of course.

Me: (in head) Swoon.

----------------------------------------------------

Neighbor: What's your biggest fear then?

Me: Hmm...I really hate spiders. I can't even touch books with pictures on them.

Neighbor: Oohh...let's watch Arachnophobia.

Me: Nooo, I won't be able to wash my hair.

Neighbor: (laugh) Yeah, but how many spiders have you seen here?

Me: No! I've had one in the shower. It was right above my head and then I had to throw shoes at it to kill it.

Neighbor: What kind of spider?

Me: Maybe it was a Daddy Long Legs?

Neighbor: Don't quote me on it, but I don't think those bite.

Me: I'm totally going to go around quoting you on that.

Neighbor: Great, I'm ruined.

TO BE CONTINUED...I need to work.

Day 182 - Where's My Clever Title?

Last night I hung out with Neighbor. There will be a very long post to come, but I'm trying to figure out how to write it.

Buuuut....so you know, we talked for 6 hours nonstop. Seriously.

Day 181 cont. - Oh, Shoot, Put The Booze Away

OK, so I'm writing some DUI blog about how accidents are increasing among young women.

They say women are trying to be like men and drink.

Check this out:

Dr. Judy Schaechter, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said that "there may be a loss of the notion of what it means to be feminine."

OK, seriously?

Personally, I think women drink because they like-a the booze. And what? Haven't women been total drunks since like back in the day? It's plenty feminine. I saw Marie Antoinette with Kirsten Dunst and she drank tons and was a queen! Now, drinking and driving isn't a joke, but choosing to drive after drinking is a completely different topic than women getting drunk. This woman drinks plenty (responsibly, Mom!) and knows how to dial a cab number.

Maybe this is why I am single? Drunk and unfeminine?

Day 181 - What?!

I have been using ellipsis incorrectly!

You are supposed to treat them as a missing word, meaning spaces on both sides.

Also, if you are using them in a way as if you are not completing a thought, you are supposed to use a dash instead. Unless that thought was said, but you aren't writing it, then you use an ellipsis.

Yesterday I was looking at my nerd books (read: Style Guides) and stumbled upon this.

Ugh.

Day 180 - From Dead To Half-Dead To Living To See Another Day

OK, I've avoided discussing the Neighbor situation for a bit, but now I will get back into it.

Here's what happened:

Scene: Last Saturday, Legal Eagle and I are at the grocery store.

LE and I were buying wine (because we drink a lot). We are making some sort of random joke about Neighbor and then I hear LE say, "Oh my god!" to which I turn around to see what she is looking at. Neighbor! (No, he didn't hear us talking. He was still a bit away.) We begin talking with him and we invite him to stop over if he wants. We are both pretty sure he implied that he would. Yet, he does not!

After this event, I do not see Neighbor all week, which is unusual as we usually cross paths at some point every week.

Scene: Sunday, Valentine's Day, LE and I are walking home from lunch up the hill.

We are just about home and then suddenly we see Neighbor walking up the hill in our direction.

LE: Is that Neighbor?

Me: Yeah, he's dead to me.

LE: Ha.

Stop for small talk with Neighbor, and then...

Neighbor (to me): Hey, I friended you on Facebook, so you better add me back.

Me: Oooh, we'll see about that.

Neighbor: So when are we doing movie night?

Me (looks at LE): Maybe early this week?

Neighbor: Cool. Happy Valentine's Day!

LE and I continue to walk up to our apartment.

LE: Dead to you...ha...yeah right.

Me: I know.

LE: But hey! He had to look up your last name and then make a point of adding you to Facebook. That's an effort.

Me: I guess it is.

While I will not get overly giddy about it, I will enjoy that he made the effort of finding me on Facebook without being like, "Hey, are you on Facebook?" And I will also not think too much of it that he asked me on Valentine's Day, but I will enjoy it a bit. Oh, but I'll definitely get excited that he did this after a while of not seeing me, which means he missed me, right?

Scene: About 5 hours after he asked me about Facebook, I finally log in.

I see the friend request and go to check it out. Oh, there is a message, too!

MOLLY! When are we having a movie night?

Yay! I rejoice because I am a 13-year-old girl and then message LE about what format to respond in. She tells me to message back rather than writing on his wall or anything else. I agree and then proceed to clear both mine and LE's Facebook walls of anything mentioning Neighbor, because yes, we write about Neighbor on our walls occasionally. I message back: "How about Tuesday? Watch something scary?" I begin to feel like a total dork and wish I had written something else. Oh well.

Scene: Monday morning and early afternoon.

I get angry all day because Neighbor has yet to respond! OK, maybe he hasn't checked his Facebook? Unlikely. He's all computery I think and it's probably tied to his email which is tied to his phone which means he has at least seen my message. However, he hasn't done anything else on Facebook, so at least he is respecting that he can't take any action without messaging me back first. I declare him half-dead until he makes some sort of move, and that move better not be updating his status without messaging me back. I go into girl panic and over-analyze what I wrote. Was it dumb? Was it too boring?

Then I go into the mode of, "Well, if he does respond late on Tuesday or something, I'm going to suddenly have plans." No one keeps me waiting! And then I'll tell him that I may have some free time in two weeks or something.

Scene: I decide to start laundry and randomly decide to take some recycling out.

Not thinking or paying attention, I take a box to recycling and who should be walking down the hill? Neighbor! I barely say hello. It's more like cold-style Mo hi, which is pretty freaking cold. He stops and here we go again:

Neighbor: Hey, so Tuesday?

Me (slow turn because recycling is so fascinating): Yeah?

Neighbor: I think Tuesday will work. What time were you thinking?

Me: Oh, I don't know. [LE] probably won't be home until around 7 or 8, so it'll be after that.

Neighbor: Cool, well you can just let me know (makes typing gesture like I should Facebook him about it). But Tuesday should be good.

Me: OK, yeah, let me know if it changes and you can't do Tuesday.

Neighbor: And I'll pick out something super scary for you.

Me: Now I'm really excited.

Then I went skipping up the stairs and declared that I would give Neighbor another chance. Maybe he was just trying to construct a decent message or just wasn't sure about Tuesday, but then saw how adorable I was and he knew he couldn't pass up hanging out with me or he felt pressured to say he could hang out. Whatevs.

And...scene.

Oh, one more thing...his Facebook picture is of him as a child (I think) and he's totally blond. And he doesn't have anything weird or alarming on his page...thank god!

Oh, and these convos are longer, but I shorten for boredom's sake.

Oh, and for those who Facebook stalk...I know for a fact that no one can find out if you have been on their page. Seriously. You can with MySpace, but not Facebook, so stalk away.

Day 179 - Feeling Like Myself A Bit

It's been a rough week. Seriously. Actually, it's been a rough few months. I haven't felt like myself for a loooooong time.

I don't like to write about sucky stuff, so I'll keep it short, but after talking to everyone I'm close to and having a really helpful talk with Legal Eagle last night, I feel as close to my regular self as I have in quite some time. I finally feel like I have said everything I have wanted to say and that everyone I've talked to really listened to me and I was able to do the same. I feel lighter and I know that's a good sign.

And today was a really good Valentine's Day. Seriously. LE and I went shopping at Target for her gift for Double B and I had so much fun. I know, weird. Maybe it's because she got him a card from the children's section and it had us both dying, like we haven't laughed in a long time.

Then after a ton of cleaning, we went to lunch at the cafe up the hill and had turkey burgers. NOT burgers, but yummy turkey burgers...how healthy of us! We then watched War of the Roses this afternoon which was good.

Basically, while I don't want to get into the details because it isn't my style on here, I finally feel like LE and I are back on track as friends. We definitely have had some ups and downs lately, but now I feel like we are back on the same page. And I feel like myself again or at least like I am getting back to being myself.

OK, enough of that...I'm only writing this to keep myself reminded of how I feel. More later!

Day 178 - I've Managed A Resolution!

I grabbed dinner with the girl I met in NY at a work thing, we'll call her AV. We've had trouble scheduling getting together because of being out of town or work stuff, but I'm so happy we got it together (afterall, meeting with people in my business is one of my resolutions!).

It was great getting to talk to someone else about all the ups and downs. We're in a very similar place right now and got to exchange celebrity opionions of people we've met.

We ate at Boho, which is near my place and somewhere I have been wanting to visit. It was way better than I thought. Very mellow place, huge space. We both had burgers (probably in my Top 5 ever!) and beers, delicious! Plus, we made it just in time to order before Happy Hour was over, so we got a good deal. I'd definitely go back...especially since they have a bottomless mimosa brunch. :) And that's what my life needs right now.

Well, one resolution is at least started. Now, what were my other ones??

Day 177 - Straight To My Heart

Things have been rough (hence the lack of updates), but when I saw this on Jezebel, I thought about how much I would laugh if someone sent this to me:


:)

Day 176 - I've Missed You, Too!

Hi hi hi! I know, where have I been?

Just waaaay too busy doing some work (since I'm a procrastinator). But that is done and on to the next project.

Sooo...what to talk about, maybe the plans for the rest of the week/weekend??

Friday:

Housewarming party for Philly. Yeah, I'm going to wear the new H&M dress, so at least that part will be fun! We'll be showing up late because Legal Eagle has school and probably leaving whenever is an acceptable time to call it a night. Damn, we have to bring some alcohol as a gift, right? I hope there are snacks.

Saturday:

Girl day! LE and I are getting our hair cut! I know, this has been like a year-long process. My hair looks worse and worse every single day. We are going to Refuge for Hair. And also...we are getting our nails done! LE got a gift certificate to a nail salon nearby and a manicure is only $14, so I said let's go and I'll get one, too. We're very excited to get girl-ified. Hmm...I have to call and find out if I need to make appointments for nails.

Sunday:

Are you ready for some football? LE and I have two Superbowl parties on Sunday. Last year she double-booked us and I guess she is making a tradition of it. First (I think), is a party at RJ's. Ooohhh...remember him? A former roomie and current friend of Double B (LE's "bf") and a guy LE wanted me to go out with. We are going with Double B to the party there. I've been informed that there will be many guys. I have basically no thought on this. Why?

1. Football will be on; girls come second to it.
2. I'm have a crush that lives next door so I'm not feeling starved for a crush.

But of course, I will be sweet, adorable and keeping an eye out for any appealing guys.

The second party is at Casey and Cappie's. I think it'll be pretty low-key and just a few people. It'll be nice and I haven't seen them since the Christmas party.

Possibly Thursday or Saturday:

Neighbor and I talked the other day and he asked what we were up to this week. Then he suggested a movie night! I'm going to stop by tomorrow and see which night he is free (hopefully one of them!). I'm pretty excited, even if LE will be there, too. :)


Pretty busy the rest of the week/weekend. Plus I have work and stuff to do, I suppose. And I definitely need to figure out what I am wearing for everything...this activity seems to consume 85% of my life.

I'll keep you updated on all the fun!