I know I don’t make many domestic-type posts, but I got Casabella’s Water Stop All-Purpose Gloves with my Amazon.com gift card a couple days ago, and they’re freakin’ awesome. Now I can wash dishes without taking off my rings, worrying about the water temperature, or dealing with dry skin! There’s also texturing on the fingers so soapy dishes stay where they’re supposed to. Granted, I’ve never owned dish gloves before, but I have a feeling these will be staying for a while.

So, I had the chance to go shopping in what seemed like forever yesterday since I had an eye doctor appointment (his office, conveniently, is in Tysons mall). The first thing I did was go to the Apple store and play with the iPhone some more, including loading this site in Safari and seeing how it looked (surprisingly, I didn’t notice anything different/broken … except I have yet to figure out how to zoom in, click on links, etc. lol).

After that I spent a good chunk of time in Banana Republic, Gap, and Old Navy — I had a $10 reward card (good at any of the 3), a $15 discount card (good at only Banana Republic during July), and a gift card (good only at Gap). Haha. I ended up getting jeans and a skirt at Old Navy and a jacket at Gap. Couldn’t find anything decently priced that I liked at Banana Republic — I rarely do — so I guess that $15 card won’t be put toward anything … but oh well. I probably spent more than I should have anyway, though I keep telling myself to chill ’cause I haven’t bought “real” clothes in awhile, plus I did get money for my birthday that’s in savings now. Then again, with skydiving, beach trips, and concerts during the next 3 months, I’m gonna have to buckle down and not buy anything unless I really need to lol.

The eBay of handmade items (minus the bidding), Etsy.com, is freakin’ awesome. I don’t know why I’ve never heard of this site before. I was looking for messenger bags online to replace my tiny Fossil purse that’s continuously overflowing with stuff, and after searching on Google for a dragon purse, stumbled upon it. I didn’t find anything I liked on Google or any of the Gap/Urban Outfitters/JCPenney/etc. sites, so I decided to give Etsy a try.

I found the bag I wanted on the first page of the “Bags & Purses” category. I checked all the pages to make sure something else awesome wasn’t hiding, and then thought about it for a couple days since this would be my first non-corporate accessory purchase. The bag (and free t-shirt!) were $45 and twice the size of my current bag (which cost about $30), unique, vegan, and not girly in any way — what more could I want? My bag arrived yesterday and is even more awesome in person:

I have to get used to the slippery nature of vinyl vs. “rougher” fabric, but all in all I’m happy, and will definitely go back to Etsy (and Antimatter, the creator of my bag) in the future

I’ve got most of my Christmas shopping done! I just got back from Fair Oaks, where I spent way too much money lol. My credit card is now definitely over what I have in the bank, but hopefully after 3 weeks of working I should be good again. I saw so many things that I wanted to get, like mini rubber duckies for Brian and a difficult golf hole calendar for Aunt Ann, but decided against it for the moment … maybe I’ll go back for them later. So far I just need presents for Uncle Chris and Mary (Madison), and maybe Bob and Mary (Brooklyn) if I’m not broke. I’ve kinda combined gifts this year, like Grandma and Bob together instead of separately. Oh, and I got the cutest candles for Grandpa and Mary — little white reindeer, each appropriately named, and Rudolph (in all red) is in the front! They were $20, which is steep for me, but I couldn’t resist. I stood in Bath & Body Works for 10 minutes trying to decide if I should get them. All in all, I spent 3 hours at the mall, including a trip to Parade for their closing sale of all shoes for $19.99, but sadly, I couldn’t find any dress shoes that fit right. They had lots of black boots, but they had the weird pointy toes and I knew I wouldn’t wear them that much, so I said goodbye. I didn’t even make it to Hot Topic … but a tall peppermint mocha from Starbucks made up for it

On a side note, I downloaded “Do They Know It’s Christmas” by Band Aid 20 after hearing all the hype, and it’s not that bad. The performing artists include Tom Chaplin (Keane), Robbie Williams, Dido, Jamelia, Chris Martin (Coldplay), Ms. Dynamite, Joss Stone, The Sugababes, Fran Healy, Justin Hawkins (The Darkness), Will Young, Beverly Knight, Busted, Dizzee Rascal, and Bono (the only one to have sung in both the original and 2004 versions). I have the A Santa Cause version of it too (by Far and Chino Moreno) … I like collecting covers.

I almost forgot! I have a job! I’ll be working at Alliance Bank for $10/hour doing stuff like copying and collating, and it’s really nice because the office is like a mile from my house, so yay for next to no traffic! So I’ll be there until Friday, Saturday is “A Christmas Carol” with Brian and his parents in DC and either the webMethods Christmas party or goth meetup after that, Sunday is Brian’s parents’ Christmas party, and then we’ll be driving to Snowshoe for a little skiing before coming back Tuesday night, only for me to leave again Wednesday morning with my Dad for New York and Connecticut for the week. Gonna be crazy, but hey, what else is break for? I think the only “relaxing” time I had was this weekend, since I’ll be working again after I get back until break ends on the 9th. Man.

Well, today was sorta busy. Animation sucked as usual, but at least we don’t have any homework (I think). Then I took a nap, and was planning to skip uber-boring art history until I realized that I had to hand in my one-page paper. So I caught the bus over there and was a little late, but anything to make that class shorter is alright in my book.

Afterwards I went shopping for random stuff and the other half of Brian’s birthday present, which, as usual, I spent too much money on Before getting dinner I talked to Lindsay in the hall, who said she thought she saw Jed at the library today. I was like weird, he’s not supposed to be here ’til next semester. Eh. Now I gotta decide whether to shower and read or go to UREC, read, and then shower. If only I didn’t have a headache.

I hate when you get an email about a job offer by someone who clearly didn’t read your resume. Just got one from a company called HireBug who’s looking for full-time account executives with 4-year degrees. Um, hello — not me in any way, shape, or form *sigh* Why does this have to be so hard?

Got a little bit of shopping done today: more gym shorts, a dust cloth for my computer stuff (I was getting tired of tissues), and a new PS2 memory card ’cause Shayne has mine and it’s supposedly MIA. Now I need to play DDR more.

There’s been a lot of downpours tonight: 3 that I’ve witnessed, and who knows how many total. Just my luck that one happened while I was driving 66 and then again on my way from the car to the house. But oh well, rain isn’t that bad … even the sky has to cry sometimes.

Will people stop fuckin’ anonymously leaving comments? Geez … yeah, I *might* know who you are, but I’m not psychic, especially when you deliberately try to be “evasive” or “sneaky” by not providing any info. Due to recent events, just prove yourself intelligent, and we’ll all suffer one less headache. Besides, did it ever cross your mind that instead of living in hostility, I might want to actually talk to you?

FYI, I might be cutting back/stopping ’cause it’s really bothering Shayne … even though he smokes like a pack a day. Yeah, it’s different, but not completely … whatever, all I know is that life is better in slow motion …

Fuck, I forgot to call my leads … Jed’s gonna kill me, especially if I screw up tomorrow. Why oh why did I sign up for this crap?

VNV Nation rocks … Doron has the best music. I wonder what “Die Flut” (by Witt & Heppner) means. Awesome song too.

Oh yeah, and I dunno if I’ve already said this, but I won the 3 spiked chokers I was like score … wonder if I’ll actually get them this time.

My old black hoodie is developing holes kinda fast, namely on the cuffs. Poor hoodie …