Before I detail my shopaholic adventures, though, let me talk a little bit about last night. After having had a LOT of trouble falling asleep the past few nights, I decided last night to try a pre-emptive strike against that by taking some Tylenol PM at around midnight. I figured that would give me a little time to dick around a bit and be ready for bed by 1:30am or so. I got in bed at around 1am and, once again, couldn’t fall asleep. I think a lot of my sleep issue recently has been the fact that it has been staying so hot in my bedroom. I’m not sure what it is exactly but my bedroom has been staying hotter than the living room or anywhere else in the house. It’s really weird and I really think that the temperatures and humidity rising so suddenly here lately has made a major difference in my sleep. If I am cold, I can sleep just fine but if I get hot it is a completely different story. So, last night I lied in bed for about 2 hours and, finally, got up and went and laid on the couch in the living room. The temperature was much more bearable out there. Once I got there, I fell right to sleep pretty much. That would be all fine and dandy, except that the couch that we have here is not really suited to being slept on. It just isn’t comfortable to lie on – at least, not to lie on for 8 hours or so while you sleep. Still, from 3am until 11:30am, it is where I laid sleeping. I woke up with a bit of a crick in my neck, which sucks, but at least I managed to sleep pretty well.
My Mom was working some overtime until 1pm so after waking up at 11:30am I had a decent amount of time to dick around before getting dressed and ready to go out. I messed around online until about 12:15pm when I headed into the bathroom to get ready for the day. I decided to do something I don’t usually do and hooked up my iPod speakers in the bathroom to play some music while I got ready. I put on a playlist of Leighton Meester’s leaked tracks and official singles and hopped in the shower. I shaved my face, (and managed to avoid cutting the shit out of myself, like I did last weekend,) moisturized and put on makeup. I figured, since it was going to be a leisurely day of shopping, I would do a makeup look that was a little fun, a little bright and really over the top. I wore a t-shirt with a black, pink and silver design, so I decided to throw together a makeup look using those colors.
I really kind of loved the way it came out. Spoiler alert: I didn't love it by the end of the day. It was hot as hell out today and the air conditioning has been out in my Mom's car for ages, so as the day wore on this look wound up a bit of a mess. Still, I was feeling really cute for the first part of the day! I didn't eat anything in the time before my Mom came home and she hadn't eaten much while at work, so we decided to go get lunch before doing anything else. Since we were heading to the Gulf Gate area, anyway, we decided to go have lunch at Red Lobster. Back when we had a lot more money than we do now, we used to eat at Red Lobster pretty frequently. We hadn't been there in a really long time at this point so we both decided it would be a good idea. It was a really good idea, actually. I had a Wood-Grilled Shrimp Salad and a bowl of Creamy Potato Bacon soup, both of which were delicious. I was pretty happy with myself because it was kind of a healthier lunch choice than I could have made. Plus, like I said, it was really tasty. After lunch, we headed over to the Gulf Gate "mall," because I have been obsessed with shopping at Old Navy lately. I was not disappointed with it, either. I was never a fan of Old Navy back in the day because I always felt like their clothes were kind of plain. It's funny because that is exactly the reason why I am so into them now. I feel like my personal style is going through a bit of an evolution right now, in a lot of ways. I am feeling a lot less into clothes with designer names all over them and more into just solids and simple patterns in fun, bright colors. This is definitely my look for Spring/Summer. Plus, I feel like you don't really need to be showing off designer names to show your style - it's more about how you carry yourself and how you wear your clothes. Plus, with solids and simple patterns you kind of have more opportunity to dress them up by way of accessories and makeup and things of that nature. I don't know... I just like it.
I picked up four really cute t-shirts at Old Navy. Three v-necks in pink heather, a darkish blue heather and a plain baby blue, as well as a lavender crew neck t-shirt. Like I have mentioned various times here, pink and purple are my colors for Spring/Summer, and I am kind of in love with the brightly colored heather stuff that so many different companies are doing this season. I bought these four tees and a really cute pair of brown hard bottomed flip flops with green and blue plaid fabric straps for under $50, which is awesome. This is exactly why I love to shop at Old Navy. There was this boy working in the Old Navy store who kept kind of giving me the eye, too. He was really cute, in an offbeat way, and I was trying to get in his register line so I could flirt with him a bit. Sadly, this girl on another register shouted for me to come to her. Oh well. After Old Navy, I headed over to another favorite store of mine in that same plaza, Ulta. Normally, I shop at the Ulta on University, in the plaza with the "Super Target," but since I was in this area already I decided to go ahead to this one. I had a bit of an ulterior motive in going to that Ulta, anyway, because this is the one where Whitney works and I was hoping to pop in and say hello to her. Sadly, she was not working today. Still, I did need a couple of things from there.
I only got two things from Ulta. The cute purple bottle there is Urban Decay's Primer Potion, which is supposed to be the best eyeshadow primer out there. I have been using the Ulta Professional brand primer and, while it works alright, I have been wanting to try something different and it seems like every girl and drag queen on YouTube uses the Urban Decay stuff. The main reason I wanted to try this one in particular is because it has a wand applicator that pulls out the perfect amount of product, and I feel like I have a tendency to use more than I need normally. So, this stuff cost me $18 and I am hoping it will be worth it. I also needed to pick up some concealer. I had initially planned on buying a bottle of the concealer that April gave me a sample of but I found out that it is $43 for the bigger sized tube of that stuff. As much as I understand the concept of "you get what you pay for," I have a lot of trouble justifying paying nearly twice what I paid for my prized possession, the NYX S104 eyeshadow palette with 78 colors, for a simple concealer. That's a LOT of money. Still, I needed some sort of concealer. I decided to see if they had the NYX concealer in a color aside from the orange that I got, which really doesn't work for me, but they didn't seem to carry any of the NYX concealers there. I wound up picking up a concealer stick from Pop Beauty, which I am pretty optimistic about. It is a little disheartening, though, that I spent nearly $50 on just two items. I am not a cheap person by any means but I typically like to try to get as much bang as possible for my buck. Still, I think these are both pretty awesome products and are probably well worth the cost.
As an added bonus, Ulta has this thing where they always ask you if you want to try two free issues of In Style magazine, which I typically say no to, but the girl that was checking me out today was like, "You get a free gift if you do," which piqued my interest a bit. Then she pulled out the free gift and I was pretty well sold. The free gift was a Calvin Klein bag, with a small sized bottle of Eternity, which my Mom loves. I have been wanting to get a new bag, and have been planning on a Calvin Klein bag anyway, so this seemed kind of perfect. Initially, I had a bit of attitude about actually using the bag because it was a "gift with purchase," but after inspecting it a bit I really kind of fell in love with it. It's not like your usual "gift with purchase" items, which are kind of low quality and cheap looking. It is a full-sized messenger bag, a little bigger than the one I currently carry, and is really well made. The more I looked at it, the more I have kind of fallen in love with it.
It's gray with a black "leather" flap, with a little metal piece with the Calvin Klein logo on it. I have already transferred all of the stuff from my old bag into it and, like I said, am kind of in love with it. It's really cute and, even better, is really lightweight and easy to carry. I love it. I don't know why I would have such attitude about something just because it was free. Free is the best price for things, as long as they are good quality items and this definitely is. Plus, how awesome is it that all I had to do to get it was sign up for two free issues of In Style magazine. I need to talk to Whitney about how that works, though, because I'm not sure the catch. I mean, I assume the catch is that if you don't respond by a certain point you are automatically subscribed and charged for a year of In Style, which I don't see as a bad thing at all. The In Style subscription is only $24.95 for a whole year, which is much less than you would pay for a year's worth of that magazine if you just bought it every month in the store. Plus, I love In Style, so I will probably just let it automatically subscribe.
After leaving Ulta, my Mom and I discussed going to get our eyebrows done. I have been thinking about doing this for a while now but have never been sure whether or not I want to do that. My only issue is that I don't want to have super feminine looking eyebrows - I am not a drag queen, after all. I still want to look like a man... just a pretty man. I don't want to tweeze, though, because I don't entirely understand how to tweeze or how to achieve the shape I want from tweezing and I have seen far too many people who have fucked up looking eyebrows because of over-tweezing. I don't want to do that. So, I am still considering getting my eyebrows done. When we got to the place where my Mom wanted to get hers done they seemed kind of busy, so we decided that maybe we would save that for tomorrow. We stopped by Starbucks for some coffee and then went over to Borders. As I mentioned in the video blog last night, I could easily have gone to Books-A-Million right in the same plaza as Ulta and Old Navy but I wanted to go to Borders and say hello to April, who was there closing. April and I talked for quite a while there and got a chance to have a really good chat, which was nice. We only saw each other like 2 weeks ago but there was still plenty to catch up on. It was really nice and I was glad to have a chance to see her for a bit. I miss hanging out with my friends, like April and Devin, and Whitney and Nate. While at Borders, I also picked up a couple of books.
The second in Lauren Conrad's series, "LA Candy," and RuPaul's new book, "Workin' It!: RuPaul's Guide To Life, Liberty & The Pursuit Of Style." I really loved the first book in the Lauren Conrad series and am pretty excited to read this new one, and the RuPaul book was automatically amazing as soon as it was handed to me by my friend, Wayne, who works at Borders, as well. It's just fun and fabulous and full of awesome pics of Ru! I am really excited to read that. Overall, the trip to Borders was a lot of fun. Afterwards, my Mom and I decided to take a little drive out on Siesta Key, which was fun. I'm not sure what exactly it is but we both love to drive along the beaches here in town. There is a lot of natural beauty in this area and the beaches are the best of it all, so it is cool to take a ride out there and just kind of take it all in... take it all in from the car, where you don't have to deal with all the sand and people and stuff. Then we headed out to Venice. We had agreed yesterday that we wanted to have Panda Express for dinner tonight. For those not in the know, Panda Express is basically a fast food version of Chinese food. Typically they can be found in the food court in a mall but there is a free-standing one in Venice with a drive through. It is super convenient, although I guess it isn't all THAT convenient considering we drive all the way to Venice for it. Still, it is in the same plaza as my Mom's favorite Ross store, so it gives her an excuse to go shop there. My Mom is obsessed with stores like Ross, Marshall's and TJ Max. I used to always think that was silly but I have since come to realize the beauty of those places. Don't get me wrong, I'd still take Burlington Coat Factory over any of those places but they are basically the same concept - good quality stuff at really marked down prices. Why not pay less for the things that you would want to buy anyway? It's pretty genius, really. My Mom bought an entire outfit, including shoes, for under $25 today there. It was really cute, too. My Mom doesn't buy herself clothes and such often enough, so it makes me happy when she'll go out and buy a whole outfit or something. While we were at Ross, I decided to give something a try, as well. Initially, I had found a couple of things I wanted but nothing I was crazy over and was just going to leave it at that but then my Mom mentioned something that got me thinking a bit. I have been saying a lot recently that I wanted to get a new bedspread and sheets and such because the comforter I had before was pretty messed up. I had this pink satin comforter, which was a baby pink type color on one side and a darker, more hot pink color on the other and, for some reason, a few days after buying it I noticed it was starting to come apart at the seams. I found this really annoying and have been talking about getting something new ever since. Still, I don't really use a comforter that often and it is really just kind of for looks on my bed so it wasn't something that I made a priority. Still, I have been thinking a lot about trying to make my bed a nicer environment lately and as soon as my Mom brought it up to me I knew now was the time. Ross is actually a really good place to shop for bedding because it is really expensive in actual bedding and home stores, like Bed, Bath & Beyond or something like that. Ross has good quality bedding for much less money. I found this really adorable sheet set with a hot pink paisley design with hearts in it and a very thin comforter that had the exact same design as my previous one, (baby pink on one side, hot pink on the other,) but in a much more durable fabric than satin.
I am in love with this bed set! It is adorable, although I do ask that you excuse the fact that with the lighting of the picture and the fact that there is shit on the floor, my house kind of resembles a crack den in this pic. My Mom and I have both come to the decision that we since we have decided to sign another 13 month lease on this apartment, we need to get it looking much better than it has the past 13 months. Basically, we haven't decorated the place yet. No pictures on the walls or anything like that - it is just very plain. We have decided that since we are going to be staying here, and since we have family coming to visit for my brother's wedding, we need to get this place looking like a real home instead of like we JUST moved in, which is how it has looked for the past year. It is a really nice apartment we have here - we just haven't done anything with it. So, we have decided to change that. For me, a nice new bed set is the first step. It's a baby step but even a baby step is a step. When we got home, I made the bed all up and had to get my Mom to help with a couple of things, like moving the mattress around to put on the "skirt," which is really just the flat sheet. I hate flat sheets, so I normally just toss them aside, but I somehow came up with the idea to make it the skirt and I think it turned out really well. Anyway, while my Mom was in here it somehow came up that my bedroom seemed to stay really hot all the time and how I felt like that was messing with my sleep lately. I have one of those funky lamps with a bunch of different lights that you can move in different directions and my Mom thought that may be what is heating up the room. That idea never dawned on me but it seemed logical enough. I pulled out this really cute little lamp that we had laying around and put it on my nightstand and turned off the big, funky lamp and it has really made a world of difference. My room feels so much cooler than it did before. So, I am hoping that with a cute, new environment to sleep in and a much cooler temperature I will be able to just fall asleep without all the trouble. We'll see. Of course, it is nearly 4am now and I am still awake not because I had trouble sleeping but because I have taken forever to write this blog because I have been dicking around with other things.
I should get to bed. Before I do that, though, I wanted to talk about something that I stumbled upon this evening that I have fallen in love with. There is this absolutely amazing band called The Bird & The Bee, made up of Inara George and the brilliant producer/songwriter Greg Kurstin. Greg Kurstin has worked with a long list of my favorite artists, including Little Boots, Nelly Furtado, Lily Allen, Rilo Kiley, Britney Spears, Sia and, most notably, Darren Hayes and Kylie Minogue. He also took large part in one of my favorite, most under-rated albums, "The Orange Album" by Stefy. Essentially, what I am saying is that this guy knows his shit when it comes to crafting great music. They've had two albums thus far, "The Bird & The Bee" and "Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future," both of which have been completely brilliant. They are a really great band. I had no idea, though, that they had another album coming out already. Still, I stumbled upon this album tonight and downloaded it immediately. The real kicked is the title and concept of this new album. It is called, "Interpreting The Masters, Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall And John Oates," and it is, exactly as the title states, a Hall & Oates tribute record. Now, in spite of my lover for 80s music, I have never really been a fan of Hall & Oates. I get that they are really good songwriters but the general sound of their music was never all that appealing to me. Hearing their music reinterpreted by The Bird & The Bee, though, I absolutely love it! They stay pretty true to the original versions of a lot of song but the vocals are immensely better and they put a really cool electronic spin on a lot of the songs that really adds a lot to them. There are also a few songs that I wasn't familiar with before, songs that are my favorite on this record, like "Heard It On The Radio," "One On One," and my personal favorite, "Rich Girl." They also do really great covers of some of the Hall & Oates song I was familiar with, like "Maneater," "Private Eyes," "She's Gone," "Sara Smile," and my very favorite track on this record, "Kiss On My List." I always kind of liked the general vibe of that song but thought the lyrics were super cheesy. I also never really knew any of the lyrics beyond "your kiss, your kiss is on my list." Listening to their version, I finally paid attention to the rest of the lyrics and it is actually a really sweet, and even more, really well-written song. I really like the lyrics a lot. They are still cheesy but that kind of adds to the charm of the song. I highly recommend this record to everybody. I highly recommend anything by The Bird & The Bee, honestly, but this would probably be a really good gateway to their original stuff. They are amazing. You know what else is amazing? Sleep. I think I am going to go try to get some right now! Goodnight!
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