Set In Stone (PICS)

I think plans for my upcoming Nashville trip are officially final.  I am ridiculously excited about seeing all of my friends, and I’m even more ridiculously excited about relaxing work-free for six days!  You better believe there will be lots of photo enjoyment to be had when I return.

This past weekend was nice.  I was finally feeling better after suffering with the flu the weekend before.  Plus, my whopping $1400 tax refund was deposited into my account on Friday.  I desperately needed to buy some new clothes, so I set aside a few hundred bucks for that purpose.  After work Friday evening, I headed to The Citadel.  I could not have had a more perfect shopping experience.  Tammy has this theory that if you get a good parking spot at the mall, you’ll have a good shopping day.  The better the spot, the better the experience.  Well, I’ll be damned if I didn’t get the first spot in the first row by the door to Macy’s. 

I immediately found a gorgeous tank with a sheer, brown with white polka dot shirt to go over top.  It cinches around the hips with a drawstring, so the top blouses over.  Of course, I needed some new shoes to go with it, as well.  I was browsing around the massive section of brown heels (brown must be the new black this season) when a pair of light turquoise patent pumps caught my eye.  My jaw dropped, and the sales associate apparently noticed.  I looked up at her, and she said, "I know!  They’re bad, aren’t they?  I think you should try them on!"  That was all it took.  As soon as I slipped my foot into that size 6 1/2 Nine West heel, I blurted out, "I must have them!"  She responded with, "I know!  I already own a pair!"

I moved on to Dillard’s, Buckle, and a few other local shops, and I ended up coming home with two pairs of jeans, a pair of dress capris, two shirts, a cropped denim jacket, and the shoes.  I spent around $350.  Not too shabby if I do say so myself.  On the ride home, I was feeling a little guilty for splurging on the heels, but only because I was afraid that I’d have nothing to wear them with.  However, they look absolutely fantastic with both shirts that I bought that night, as well as several other items in my closet that I’ve been needing some interesting shoes to pair with.  I seriously think I can wear these shoes with every single outfit that I’m taking to Nashville.  I feel guilty no longer!

I spent Saturday shopping for groceries and a few household items, cleaning up my apartment, and getting a fantastic new haircut.  I had not had a cut since I moved here (five months ago), and my ends were quite frazzled.  I found a great little salon within walking distance from my place.  The guy, a 21-year-old rock musician, gave me a ton of layers with kind of a shag cut at the bottom.  I colored it myself later that night.  It’s not really "fixed" in this picture.  It also looks shorter here than it truly is.  It’s longer in the back, but in this picture, it’s kind of pulled behind my shoulders.  I actually took this last night while lounging on the couch in my pajamas.  Note the smudged eye makeup.  That’s what happens after a long, stressful day at work…

On to vacation plans.  I went to the bank on my lunch break today to get cash for toll roads and tips for skycaps and shuttle drivers.  My flight’s departing out of Denver tomorrow, so I’ll have to park in long term for the week.  DIA has a $5 per day lot, though, so it should only cost me around $35 to park.  I’m going to leave work around noon tomorrow to make sure I get there in plenty of time.  My flight doesn’t leave until 7:30pm, and it’s only an hour and a half drive.  However, it’s supposed to snow again tonight, and I’d like to have plenty of time to eat lunch… and maybe get my nails done.  I arrive in Nashville at about 10:50pm.

I think Tammy and James will both be at the airport to greet me.  Tam and I will probably go straight home, though.  I’m sure I’ll be tired, and I’ll probably only be interested in taking a shower.  Traveling always makes me feel dirty.  Tam wants to buy a pair of red high heels for Saturday night, so I think we’ll spend Thursday day shopping.  That night, she has to work at the club, so I’m just going to go with her.  $1 drinks all night, plus a singing competition that pretty much guarantees me a $100 prize.  Can’t turn that down!

Tammy has to work at her nanny job during the day Friday, then back at the club that night.  I’m going to have lunch with James, and we’ll probably also spend the evening at Graham.  The club is celebrating Mardi Gras with a competition for the girl who can collect the most beads.  Oh, I’m a shoo-in.  I doubt we’ll stay at the club all night, but I’m not sure yet what all places we will hit.  I’ll probably end up crashing at James’s place that night.  He lives downtown and is within walking distance of everything.

Tammy has been asked last-minute to house sit for one of the families she works for.  She explained the situation, and they more than welcomed me to stay at their place over the weekend, as well.  These people are loaded.  They live in a mansion, and we’ll have access to a pool and jacuzzi.  We had planned on getting a hotel for Saturday night (the same infamous hotel from last year’s memorable birthday bash), but if we do, we’ll have to get up at the ass crack of dawn and drive fifteen minutes to the mansion to let the dogs out.  Not going to happen.  James will, instead, be the DD Saturday night and drop us off at the house probably just as the sun’s coming up.

Saturday’s party extravaganza will include dinner at some undecided locale, karaoke at Red Iguana (with a side helping of the musical stylings of Sperman), followed by dancing and drinking at Graham.  The night will be topped off with several topless ladies at the strip joint of my choice.  Wendy, Mandy, and Lisa are all driving up to join the celebration, and Tammy has invited several surprise guests.  Sounds like a perfect evening to me!

Sunday will of course be a day of recovery.  Tam and I will be able to lounge at the mansion as long as we like.  Plus, since Monday Night Raw got moved to Thursday of this week thanks to the damn Westminster Kennel Club dog show on USA, we’re going to watch a recording of wrestling mayhem (including Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and perhaps even a UFC fight or two) Sunday afternoon.  Monday, we’re going to watch the newest edition of Raw on Nick’s big screen TV, and Tuesday I’l

l be headed back home.  That’s a lot of things to pack into a six day vacation, I know, but I’m looking forward to it.

In other news, I may be traveling again for work the Monday following my return from Nashville.  Omaha, Nebraska.  Yippie-ky-yay.  I’ve been moved over to a new project where I have been told I will be deemed the "resident expert."  That’s actually kind of cool.  This customer has a particular data source that they’d like to be able to connect to with our software.  My job will be to meet with them and figure out how to acheive that.  As I was walking through the hall on my way to lunch, I ran into my boss.  I rarely ever see him.  He said, "So I hear you want to go meet with some of our customers."  I smiled gleefully and responded with, "Yes!  I’m excited!"  He followed with, "Well, you know we have customers in Afghanistan, too…"  Employees can volunteer for three month overseas stints.  The next rotation is in March, and the HR rep had just sent out an email yesterday about looking for participants.  When Dennis popped off with that comment, I just kind of looked at him for several seconds.  Then he laughed.  I never figured out if he was just joking…

I probably won’t get a chance to update until I return from Nashville, but I’m sure I’ll have lots of interesting tales to spin for you then.  Oh, and pictures.  Lots and lots of pictures!  Until then…

Cheers,
Felina