Chapter 261: Fever

Today was a pretty good day, I would say. I didn’t wake up until 1pm, which is later than I generally care to wake up, but I didn’t really mind it today. I still felt really tired when I woke up, so I didn’t really do much right away. I mean, I did the usual morning stuff, like my morning skincare routine and brushing my teeth and such, but after that I just lied down on the couch and turned on the TV. It was on E! They were playing this weird little special called “Justin Bieber: My World.” So, I watched that for an hour. It was actually considerably more interesting than you would expect from a TV special about a 15-year old. I’m not going to lie, I am kind of a fan of Justin Bieber and this special actually made him a lot more interesting than he initially appeared. It is fascinating how his entire career began with just a grass roots campaign online started by him and his mother. It was also really interesting seeing these pretty extensive interviews with his manager, the man who really discovered him, Scooter Braun, who is a really interesting and good-looking gentleman. After that ended, I found myself sitting in front of one of those ridiculous Kardashian shows that I hate but have found myself watching lately out of sheer boredom and lack of energy to reach for the remote and change the channel. Now, I had made tentative plans with my friends Whitney and Nate to hang out tonight, since we hadn’t hung out in so long. It also happens that today was Nate’s birthday, so it was extra reason to want to hang out with him. Still, at this point this afternoon I hadn’t heard from them and really wasn’t sure whether or not we were actually going to wind up hanging out. Still, in case we did wind up hanging out, I did a bit of cleaning around the house. By this point it was after 3pm and my Mom was scheduled to get off work at 4:30pm so I figured I should get showered, shaved and dressed for the day. She had text messaged me earlier in the day asking if I still wanted to go out when she got off, which was surprising because normally when she gets off work on Saturdays she is tired and not really in the mood to go anywhere. Still, when she got off she seemed to be in really good spirits and ready to head out. So, right around 5pm, we left the house to run some errands.

Just after we left the house I finally heard from Whitney, asking if I still wanted to hang out tonight. I said that I did but had to be out for a while, and that I should be home by 8pm or so. This kind of put a time limit on the evening with my Mom – a time limit I wasn’t entirely sure we could meet. Our first stop was at Walgreen’s because I needed to get some money out of the ATM for rent. Fortunately for me, my Mom did something really great for me this week – it’s a long story but basically she came into some extra money last week, and since my paycheck was short from missing those two days last week when I was sick, she let me pay less rent than I normally would. So, I basically wound up having as much extra money as I do every paycheck, which was amazing of her. It really made a world of difference. While we were at Walgreen’s, I happened to notice in their ad that Clean & Clear products were buy one, get one 50% off, and I have been thinking for a while now that there has been a step missing in my daily skincare routine – exfoliating. Exfoliation is meant to remove dead skin cells from the skin and leave it looking and feeling softer and more refreshed. The issue with exfoliating for me was the fact that it is generally pretty harsh and only done once weekly or so. I don’t like that idea. So, I did a little research online and found that Clean & Clear has a product called the Deep Action Exfoliating Scrub, which is gentle enough for daily use but still gets the job done. I used it for the first time just before starting this blog and, I must say, it does seem like I have been really missing out. Initially, I was concerned that it would be just like any other facial cleanser but after using it I can really feel the difference on my skin. There are areas on my face that must have had a buildup of dead skin without my realizing it because they really feel completely different now. These spots that were rough and unsightly before are now soft and smooth. I’m pretty thrilled with the results at this point. Plus, I got another pack of Clean & Clear Facial Cleansing Wipes, which I use to remove my makeup every day, for half price. Earlier today, while watching E!, I saw a commercial for this new shampoo, as well, which I immediately thought I should give a try. It is called Hair Endurance For Men from Head & Shoulders. As much as I hate to admit it I have some pretty messed up scalp issues, which sometimes result in dandruff and very dry scalp. Plus, as I have discussed in this blog several times in the past, my hair is getting thinner by the day. Well, this Head & Shoulder Hair Endurance For Men is pretty much the perfect product for me because it targets both of these issues. Plus, it smells really good. So, I am pretty excited to try that product out tomorrow. It would be wonderful if I wind up seeing some results from it!

After Walgreen’s, we headed south to the Gulf Gate plaza. The first thing we did there was stop at Ulta, so I could use the gift card I got for my birthday. It was just enough to buy the brand new Stila Backstage palette, which includes six gorgeous Stila eye shadows. As I have mentioned here previously, I am a little obsessed with Stila products lately. Their eye shadows are just gorgeous. They are extremely soft to the touch and go on beautifully. This palette is no exception – it includes two really fun pink shimmer shades, as well as two neutral shimmer shades and two metallic blue/green colors. It is awesome! I am in love with that thing. I also picked up a new Covergirl Concealer Wand because the Amazing Cosmetics concealer that my friend April gave me a while back is running out very quickly and before investing in more of that, (since it is $28 for a small tube and $40 for a full-sized one,) I wanted to try out more of the less expensive, drugstore brand concealers to see if I can find something that works as well for me. I tried this Covergirl concealer once I got home and I really like the way it works on me. It is a little lighter than the Amazing Cosmetics stuff I have been using and does a better job of brightening up the area under/around my eyes, which I love. I don’t think the coverage is as good but it is still a really good product for me, I think. Since I had the gift card, I bought both of these products and only spent $2 and some change there, which was lovely. After leaving Ulta, my Mom and I decided to go get dinner at Panera Bread, which was really good. We just sat there and ate our soups and sandwiches and enjoyed each other’s company, which we haven’t really gotten to do much of lately. It was really nice.

After dinner, we had one last stop to make – the Sarasota Square Mall. I needed to go to the mall to pick up a birthday gift for Nate. Nate isn’t one of those people who are really into their birthday, in general, but I can’t think of anybody who doesn’t enjoy receiving gifts for their birthdays… even if they say that they don’t. Unfortunately, shopping for Nate isn’t really as easy as shopping for other people, so I was a little lost. I know that he has a tendency, or has had a tendency in the past, to shop at the store Buckle, so I figured that should be my first stop. I spent a good little while in this store looking for something that just screamed “Nate” to me but I really wasn’t finding anything particular that I felt like he would love. I decided to head over to Hot Topic to see if there might be something funny or interesting that he would like but I didn’t really find anything there, either. I did spot something that I really liked there but it wasn’t a product for sale – it was an employee. A few years ago, Whitney and I, along with our old friend, Stephanie, used to shop at Hot Topic VERY frequently – more frequently than anyone should – and we kind of befriended one of the employees there. We basically befriended this guy because he was extremely attractive and we all kind of had minor crushes on him. We even hung out with him at Warped Tour 2008, which was a lot of fun, and he became a fun acquaintance of ours. Over time as our friendships and, for me, personal styles changed it became much less frequent that we wound up in that store. In fact, today was the first time I have been in there in probably a year or so. This acquaintance of ours was still working there and kind of blew my mind with his increased hotness. Seriously, he looked better than I can ever remember him looking before. He made me tingly in all the right places. We talked for a little while and it was nice to catch up a bit. The whole thing made me reconsider my stance on the products they carry that I don’t really have much use for just because I would like to look at this boy more. He gave me the vapors or the fever or whatever else a flustered southern belle would say when she gets horny.

Still, no matter how hot the boy was looking, it really wasn’t any help in the situation of finding a birthday present for Nate. So, I wound up doing something I always hate doing – I went back to Buckle and bought him a gift card. It was nearly 8pm by this point, so we headed back to the house. I re-applied my makeup using the new products I picked up from Ulta, which I absolutely loved, and I filmed it for the second time today. Yes, I forgot to mention that I had filmed it earlier in the day, as well. What was the reason for this? As I mentioned in last night’s post, I had been really interested in the Ridley Scott/Kevin McDonald “Life In A Day” project, where they asked random people to film themselves doing anything they did today, July 24, 2010, and submit it to them for use in a film they are putting together called “Life In A Day.” Anybody whose video wound up getting used in the film would be credited as a co-director on the film and everything, which is really an amazing concept. So, I had decided that what I was going to film would be me applying my makeup for the day. Unfortunately, neither of these videos turned out very well, at all. I also came up with the idea of perhaps filming myself as I took off my makeup for the day but I didn’t wind up doing it because it was really late and I was tired. Of course, I suppose I wasn’t too tired to sit in front of the computer for the past two hours, but whatever. Whitney and Nate showed up around 9pm and we had a really good time hanging out. It was a lot of fun. We basically spent the entire evening just talking and watching random videos on YouTube. We also watched the movie “Connie & Carla,” which is one of my all-time favorite movies. They both seemed to really like it, as well, which is always cool. I love showing people my favorite movies and having them come to love them, as well. They didn’t wind up leaving until around 3am. After that, I did my weekly deep cleaning of my makeup brushes and did my evening skincare routine. Then, I wound up here.

It is nearly 6am now and I absolutely must get to bed. After all, I can’t afford to sleep all day tomorrow – I have to be ready to go to bed at a decent hour tomorrow and be ready to wake up, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, for work on Monday. This coming week is going to be a bit of a mess, I think – my supervisor is going to be off the floor training the new hires and we have clients visiting all week long, which means we can’t read and have to dress nicer than we usually do. In general, when we aren’t allowed to read and such, people get bored and talk more and trouble comes much more easily. So, it should be interesting. In the meantime, I intend to use tomorrow to do absolutely nothing but laundry and laying around watching movies on Netflix. My Mom pretty well has her day planned out already tomorrow, including going to church and going to visit an elderly friend of hers in the hospital, which will probably take up a good portion of the day for her. So, I intend to use the alone time to just relax and veg out… but not sleep. I DO need to go get a few hours of sleep now, though. Goodnight.