I have a point, I swear.

 

So the other day I was overwhelmed by jealousy when I read this post, In Which I Get Signed, by Badass Geek. To sum it up, he randomly scored a signed copy of Stephen King's new book, "Full Dark, No Stars" (which I'm reading right now), when he had some time to kill and wandered into a book store. I've been a Constant Reader since, well, middle school, so it's safe to assume that I'm a HUGE fan. So yeah, I was extremely jealous. 

Also, the other day, the G-Man dragged me to the mall, kicking and screaming. I really hate the mall. Alright, so maybe I wasn't kicking and screaming, but I'm sure I put up a bit of a fight, as I do every time he forces me to leave the house. Well, maybe not forces, but it comes pretty close to it, like that one time we were going to go skiing and it was so early, and I really didn't want to, and he literally dragged me out of bed and across the floor.

But anyways, we went to the mall, and after we exchanged the chipped and scratched dinnerware that we finally got around to ordering, we headed out to find some new sneaks for the G-Man, when his phone rang. It was one of his friends calling from Iraq. The G-Man's friend is a government contractor who volunteered to work in Iraq for a year in exchange for wads of money. But now he's having tons of personal issues with his wife and what not, who is still in the US, so the G-Man had to take the call. So, the G-Man found a bench to sit on while I went into the Gap to pick up some tops. 

When I emerged from the Gap, the G-Man was nowhere to be found as he had wandered off while on the phone, so... while he was conversing for the next hour, I meandered around the mall, trying to kill time, and trying not to get to pissed off since the whole reason we were at the mall was to look for new sneakers for the G-Man, who, as you may recall, abandoned me. Eventually we met up again, just in time for me to approve the color of the G-Man's sneakers. You see, he's colorblind, so he isn't always entirely sure of his color choices. Which is why I okayed the bluish-purple sneakers he ended up getting. You know, out of spite, for making me suffer the horrors of the mall on my own. Of course, he doesn't know that they have a tinge of purple to them, that's our little secret. Then again, sometimes he reads this blog, so I guess he probably does know that there is a tinge of purple in them, and now I'm probably in the dog house, but it serves him right. 

But the joke's really on him now (ha, ha!), because there is no purple in the sneakers, but now he's all self-conscious about them and wondering whether or not there is purple in them or not. Which means I'll now have to reassure him every day that they're blue and not purple. Shit. Guess the joke's on me then, huh? Back me up here guys, 'kay? No purple, right?

Right. That's our story and we're sticking to it. Speaking of stories, back to the real story...

So, I'm wandering around the mall, trying to kill time, when I decided to wander into a Borders, because, well, I can always use new reading material. While in there I picked up the new King book (see above), a couple of Neil Gaiman books, and a Christopher Moore book I haven't read yet, "Bite Me" (It's a love story).

Of course, little did I know, Borders was having this scam going on, Buy Four, Get the Fifth Free, and since I was already buying four books, they conned me into getting a fifth. Geesh. But anyways, while I was skimming the books in line, this happened to catch my eye:

Yeah, that's right, folks. I found my own signed copy of a book (and I checked, it's real, you can even see where the Sharpie bled through the backside of the page). 

And it all comes full circle.

It's Saturday! Let's shop for sales!

   

I thought I'd mix things up a bit for this Saturday's post.

Let's talk sales. Here's some of my favorite Sale items from some of my favorite shops.

Anthropologie

(p.s. These are all under $20)

ModCloth

(I'm not gonna lie, the sale section is kind of weak right now)

Ruche

(Eh, maybe we should skip the sales today?)

Urban Outfitters

(Normally I'm a Silence & Noise and Kimchi Blue kinda girl. Guess today I'm all Pins and Needles.)

Hope you all are having a great weekend. I'll be out partying later, which means maybe my week will end better than it started. See you in the funny pages.

Shop for a Cause

I'm a sucker for buying products that support a particular cause. I mean, if you're going to go shopping anyways, why not help someone less fortunate out in the process? Bear with me as a share some of my faves with you. (Please note: You will not see any "Pink" products here. Why? Because I have issues with it, and I think Support Pink or whatever the hell you want to call it gets enough attention already. Moving on.)

(RED) has been one of my favorite causes for quite a few years now. They have evolved over time to include numerous, popular products to consumers.

Three or four years ago, GAP offered a pretty diverse and unique (PRODUCT) RED™ line online. I can't remember how I first stumbled upon them, probably from casual window shopping, but I was fortunate enough to pick up a few tees, a bracelet and a really awesome, large tote bag. They still offer (PRODUCT) RED™, but now the products are limited to Artist Edition T-Shirts. Here are a couple of my faves:

You can find more (RED) Products here. 

"Books on shirts. Shirts on a mission. Out of Print celebrates the world’s great stories through fashion. Our shirts feature iconic and often out of print book covers. Some are classics, some are just curious enough to make great t-shirts, but all are striking works of art. We work closely with artists, authors and publishers to license the content that ends up in our collections. Each shirt is treated to feel soft and worn like a well-read book. In addition to spreading the joy of reading through our tees, we acknowledge that many parts of the world don't have access to books at all. We are working to change that. For each shirt we sell, one book is donated to a community in need through our partner Books For Africa."

I came across this site while stalking reading another blog. I'm sorry, but for the life of me, I can't remember which one it was. Seriously, I have got to start writing this stuff down. Here are some of my favorite tees from Out of Print (I bought the Atlas Shrug tee as a graduation gift to myself. I can't wait until it shows up!):

You can find more Out of Print products here.

UPDATE/FYI: Out of Print has the BEST customer service I have ever had the fortune to deal with. When my order was placed on back order, Jeff (yes, the customer service guy's name is Jeff) called me two days after I placed my order to inform me. And then, when a week and a half had passed and I still hadn't received my order or received any updated information, I emailed customer service expressing my concern about not receiving my order before I moved, and Jeff called me within an hour of me sending my email. Not only are they going to expedite my order, but they're going to upgrade my shipping free of charge so I can receive it before I leave. 

I ♥ them.

"Nest is a nonprofit organization that empowers female artists and artisans around the world. Using a unique combination of interest-free microfinance loans, mentoring from established designers, as well as a market in which to sell their crafts, Nest helps its loan recipients create successful small businesses. Nest instills pride of ownership, preserves ancient artistic traditions and successfully moves women from poverty to self-sufficiency."

I  stumbled upon Nest ages ago. They offer a wide variety of items. Products are made by loan recipient artisans from around the world as well as domestic artisans. Here are some of my faves:

You can find more Nest Products here.

(For more about that fantastic funky green and blue bag with the ruler lining, check out what I have to say about it here.)

Thanks for stickin' through that, now, go. Go shop for a cause.

TGI... FU

         
For your consideration, the highlights, and, more likely, the lowlights of my week...

• I came back from my sister's to an empty house. Yay! Well, not exactly empty. Wacko Art Girl hasn't moved out yet and Banker Girl lives here permanently and Landlord Dude technically still lives here, but basically lives at his girlfriend's place (for those of you who don't know, I currently live in a house that houses college students. About 6-7 people live here). I love it when the house is nearly empty. It means I can drink my beer in peace, leave my dirty dishes on the counter overnight and shower whenever I get around to it.

• I discovered that nuking peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds and topping it with frozen vanilla yogurt is the best treat ever. It's super-d-duper better when using crunchy peanut butter.

• I applied for a job as an assistant for a woman who claimed, "I will get back to you in a flash!" I don't really expect to get the job, but I liked the idea that she would immediately let me know that I wasn't right for the job. Apparently her definition of "in a flash" and mine are different because I haven't heard back from her yet. I can't stand it when I apply for a job and then I'm left hanging in limbo. Remember that job interview I went on ages ago? Yeah, well the Principal told me he would be letting all the candidates know one way or the other within a day. Yeah, well I'm still waiting for that phone call. Or rejection letter. Or at least a rejection email. (I know, I know. I could have called them, but I'm stubborn, dammit, and when someone says they're going to do something, I expect them to do it.)

• I discovered that my thighs have recently decided that they must give each other an encouraging pat every time they cross each other mid-stride. Not cool, thighs, not cool.

• Some random dude hit on me while sitting at a traffic light, which made me feel really good, especially since I hadn't showered that day and I had a seriously painful zit working it's way to the surface of my face. Then I looked down and realized I was having a total Paris Hilton/Fire Crotch moment as a result of my insistence on driving with my left leg propped up on the lower part of my car door, and my hatred for shorts, which was why I was wearing the same jean skirt for three days in a row. Which then reminded me of the thigh-rubbing thing, which totally bummed me out again.

• I impulsively went to the grocery store to buy fruity Twizzlers after visiting the Etsy store of new follower, charasjewelcandy. Thighs be damned! On a side note, did you know that a serving of fruity Twizzlers is 3 Twizzlers? Yeah, apparently it is, which I think is wrong. I mean, there are 6 colors! How do you decide which three colors to eat? Moving on... I also picked up toilet paper (cause we all now my track record with that), microwave popcorn (because my brain could use the food) and...

•  Meet (name to be determined). This little guy is going to save my life. I decided that I need some sort of purpose or else I'm going to lose this battle I'm currently fighting. My new purpose in life is to keep this guy alive. Now, those of you in-the-know know that my track record with plants is not good. In fact, I've killed every plant I've ever owned (except for the ones that my family have removed from my custody). You might be thinking that I'm just setting myself up for EPIC FAILURE, and you're probably right, but like I said before, I'm stubborn. And I need a project. Plus, I'm pretty sure this guy will be easy to care for.

• A new housemate moved in. He's interning in NY for the summer and hails all the way from Temple, TX. And that's about all I know about him. Oh, and his sisters recently got him hooked on LOST so he's been holed up in his room for marathon LOST watching. Oh, and he makes a full pot of coffee every morning before he goes to work, which is awesome, because I love coffee, but I love coffee I don't have to make even more.

• I'm currently suffering from insomnia. Which sucks and means that I'm going to bed around 4am and waking up at 8am but not getting out of bed until 10am. It also means that when the automated sub system calls with an assignment at 5am, my tired and fried-out brain automatically ignores the call. I'm also totally regretting scheduling an eye appointment for 10am. Life hates me.

• Landlord Dude informed me the other night that he has already rented my room out for the summer. So... looks like it's official. I'll be homeless at the end of the month. 

• Banker Girl invited me to go with her to Mountain Jam this weekend. She volunteers and gets all sorts of freebies and what not. Unfortunately, I already have lame-o plans for Saturday, so I had to decline the invite. Bummer, Dude.

• Remember my toe injury? (Don't worry, Erin, no toe pics in this post.) Well, I totally lost the fight to keep the skin flap. Just in case you were wondering.

• You ever see those bloggers who have those really neat signatures at the end of their posts? Yeah, well, I tried to make my own using my laptop. This is the result:
Nice, right? Just call me Anlnme. Yup. That's me! Anlnme (pronounced anal-n-me, in case you were wondering). I think I just found my new name. Yay!

Anywhoops... hope you all have a fabulously wonderful weekend. I'll be drinking wine. Quite possibly with new glasses (as in, eyeglasses). See you on Monday! (or sooner if I get bored)

I'm crafty! -or- Michaels is crack and I'm a crack-whore

   

Okay, normally I don't blog about (insert random topic here) craft projects. Mainly because I don't have time to do them and haven't, in fact, done anything crafty since Christmas of 2008. Sad, I know. However, all that changed today because of some sunshine, a tapestry and two bottles of beer! (For an explanation on how those otherwise seemingly random items relate to each other, click here)

I started this morning out by experimenting with some glass etching. I was lacking some crucial materials, but managed to find some suitable replacements in my closet (it's like a gold mine in there!). I'm going to save that whole process and what not for a later post, but here is a teaser pic to get you excited...

After my glass etching experimentation, I became inspired to take a trip to Michaels, one of the best and worst stores to waste an hour or two or three in. I went there for letter stencils and left with about $20 worth of goodies (which is really GOOD for me. I can drop $60 in that place in 30 minutes. My current financial situation, however, forced me to restrain myself.) Without giving too much away about my future craft endeavors, I purchased...

a pack of these  

(or, something similar to these)

 

two of these 

(or, close enough)
 

a "toob" of these 

(which I have plans for inspired by these gilded goodies- alright, well, I can't find them, but I promise when I post about this crafty project, I will have a link)

I also purchased some little blue birds, but I can't find them online anywhere, so, that's that. After my trip to the crack house Michaels, I was super psyched to get back home a create some more! Here's a peak...

Alright, that's all for now. I'm distracted by the Oscars right now and have totally lost my focus of this post. (Ryan Seacrest is an idiot, and I can't figure out why E! is having Jay Manuel and Giuli-whoseherface critique people's outfits like they're doing a play-by-play for the Super Bowl, AND I'm really enjoying following Una LaMarche's live Oscar blog). I will catch you all up tomorrow... I think... wait, what? Sorry, I just saw Jake Gyllenhaal. Gotta go!