Basically, just another blog
(Bean was sitting on my lap in my office, and we were snuggling.)
Me: I love you!
Bean: I love you for you!
Me: Aww…you’re so cute!
Bean: You’re the cutest!
I swear she does stuff like this just to mess with my head. But it does help to store it in the memory banks, and then pull it up in my mind when she’s acting like a bratty little devil.
It’s what, like, 9 degrees outside? That’s too cold for this neck of the woods, or really ANY neck of the woods that I’m stuck in. I’m so over winter! I know it’s only the end of January but too bad, I AM OVER IT!
I want:
- to not need to run my space heater all day.
- to wear pretty clothes like skirts and sandals and adorable little t-shirts.
- to get a pedicure and walk around in flip-flops while my toes dry (without getting frostbite).
- to put my coats in mothballs until next year (or, hell, indefinitely).
- to put highlights in my hair.
- to be able to send my daughter outside to play in the back yard when she’s bouncing off the walls.
- to eat dinner and drink a glass of wine on the deck.
- to eat baby back ribs that my husband cooked outside in the smoker.
What does winter leave you longing for?
This is a short rant about Ulta, the beauty/cosmetics/haircare store. If you need those types of products, I recommend you shop at Sephora (both online and in store), Target, or Walgreens; Nordstrom if you need a luxury line not carried at any of the previous places. Do not shop at Ulta – at least not the physical store. The online store is OK in a pinch.
Maybe the Ulta by you is different, but the one by me sucks. Let me know if yours is better; I’d be happy to hear that the entire chain isn’t plagued by the problems I’ve seen at my local outlet. And here they are:
1. The store is a mess. They take very poor care of their testers. Stuff is broken, smeared, and dusty. Sometimes things are scattered all over and nowhere near where their respective tester is located. Mostly it’s just dirty, which grosses me out.
2. The employees do not give a shit. Apart from a cursory “You finding everything OK?” every now and then, they don’t make any effort to be helpful at all. Generally they stand around in groups of two or three, gossiping about other employees. Just the other day I was in Ulta (last time, I swear) and two employees stood near an end cap viciously ranting about a third employee who wasn’t present. Let’s just say I heard WAY more than I bet their manager or the corporate PR would have liked me to hear.
3. Bait and switch. They advertise lots of specials and gift with purchase, but be warned: it’s all on you. If you don’t bring it up yourself at checkout, you will not get your gifts with purchase or special deals. You have to straight out explain the GWP to the cashier when you check out, then and only then she will check to see if they have the gift in question – sometimes they claim they’ve run out already. Also, watch carefully to see how much things ring up for, and make sure you’re getting any advertised sale or promotional prices.
4. Overpriced. The prices on boutique (i.e., stuff you can only buy there, Sephora, Nordstrom, etc.) items are standard, but Ulta also carries a huge selection of drugstore makeup, skincare, and haircare. And it is the highest price you’ll pay ANYWHERE for those products. Only buy drugstore items from Ulta if you’re desperate, or they have some clearly-marked, to-die-for special going (and then make SURE you get that deal at checkout).
In general, if there’s something you really want from Ulta, buy it from their website. I’ve shopped there before and not only do the gifts with purchase actually work and automatically get added to your cart; but they have great coupons and deals and they always honor them. However, I’d still buy from Sephora first.
So how was your holiday season? I have one word to describe mine: sick. As in, I was sick, and still am, though I’m starting to get better. I realized, too late, on December 31, that I should have visited the doctor some time in the preceding week. I was off work and had lots of time. Unfortunately, I kept trying to self-medicate and hoping I would get better.
I started with a cold but I think it’s morphed into a sinus infection. I have headaches, low energy, persistent cough, sore throat, congestion, the whole deal. A real shit sandwich. I guess if I don’t keep getting better I’ll have to visit the doctor anyway, and take some antibiotics, which I hate to do. Antibiotics usually make me feel much worse before I start to feel better.
BUT! Other than being sick it was pretty cool. My Dad was here from South Carolina for a whole week. Christmas was fun and everyone enjoyed their gifts. We ate well, thanks to my husband the amateur chef. I leveled my mage in World of Warcraft from 70 to 80. My daughter spent hours playing her Barbie horse riding game on the Wii, and taking pictures with her Leapster Explorer, and thank goodness we had those distractions because otherwise she might have noticed that THERE WAS NO SNOW and therefore no use for her shiny new sled and snowball maker.
I only made one resolution for New Year’s, and it was to not get sucked into playing any stupid games on Facebook. No Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc. I’m usually pretty good at ignoring that stuff, but every now and then a friend will convince me to sign up just to help them out, and then I get sucked in. No more! Every time I get a request I’ll remind myself about my resolution and “just say no.”
Only one resolution – you think it’s wimping out? Tough. I have too much real stuff to worry about to spend energy creating resolutions, which in general is a meaningless exercise that has little staying power past January anyway. I have issues, real issues, to take up my time and energy: work, parenting, getting over sinus infections. But if you’re into the whole resolution bit, I couldn’t recommend any advice higher than this great post by Swistle. She asserts the daring thought that maybe resolutions don’t have to all be about losing weight, getting in shape, blah blah blah bore me to death. There’s more to life than your pants size, folks. Sure, that stuff is important in some ways and for some people, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s just one piece of the puzzle.
So here’s to 2011 – let’s hope it’s better than 2010. Happy New Year.