A Winter Solstice Miracle!

Okay... it's not quite the same as last year's Festivus Miracle, but it's better than a kick in the ass.

2 whole dollars just for me, kids!!

What I've Been...

Raging over:

- losing and gaining the same 3 lbs for the past two months. I don't even want to talk about it.

- the sign in the window of my co-workers car that says 'Mother-To-Be On Board' as though she were some kind of precious snowflake we should coddle and protect just because she had unprotected sex.

- the fact that a photographer shoved his camera up in Anne Hathaway's business and she was asked to explain on television why she chose not to wear underwear.

- babies that should be with their families, but aren't because... well I don't think we even know why, but they aren't and I can't say anything that hasn't already been said by much more eloquent and intelligent people but I think Michael Moore makes an excellent point.

I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to just say a few words about what happened today, because I’ve been concerned about this issue for a long time. Yes, we need more gun control. Yes, we need free mental health services in this country. But I really believe that even if we had better gun control laws and better mental health, that we would still be the sort of sick and twisted, violent people that we’ve been for hundreds of years, that it’s something that’s just in our craw, just in our DNA. And to get that out of our DNA is going to take a lot more than passing a bill in Albany or D.C. That’s not going to do it.And, you know, other countries, I mean, they have their crazy people, and they have people that—there have been shootings and killings in Norway, in France and in Germany. But there haven’t been 61 mass killings like there have been in this country just since Columbine. Sixty-one mass shootings in this country. I like to say that I sort of agree with the NRA when they say, "Guns don’t kill people, people kill people," except I would just modify that a bit and say, "Guns don’t kill people, Americans kill people," because that’s what we do. We invade countries. We send drones in to kill civilians. We’ve got five wars going on right now where our soldiers are killing people—I mean, five that we know of. We are on the short list of illustrious countries who have the death penalty. We believe it’s OK to kill you when you’ve committed a crime.

Fawning over:

- pictures of precious baby deer Mesut Özil wearing a cardigan and looking like a bored 8 year old at a banquet.

- every interview Martin Freeman has done while promoting The Hobbit.

- Joe Gilgun

Cruise Talk!

It's getting close, you guys!  Another January and another cruise!!

My sister in law Kristine and I are leaving on a cruise to St. Thomas, Tortola, Antigua, and The Bahamas in the middle of January and I fucking cannot wait.

We finalized our flights, excursions and our hotel in Miami for the night before the cruise departs last Saturday.

We're staying  at this super cute hotel in one of those sherbet-colored art deco buildings in South Beach.

Hotel Shelley

So since this time we have to fly to our departure city instead of driving (the ship left out of Galveston, TX last time)  I am definitely going to have to pare down my packing list to essentials.  Which means I can't coordinate a different shoe for each dinner outfit.  And also I can't bring a different dress for each night of the cruise.  Bummer Summer.

BUT... I am 50 lbs lighter than I was last time, and I get to buy some super cute new clothes for the trip! Huzzah!!!

Champagne for everyone!

There will be two fancy evenings on the ship.  These are the outfits I have planned.  Same dress and shoes, different jewelry.

I have a pair of cheap rhinestone stud earrings to wear with both,
but I can't find a good dupe for them on Polyvore.

In addition to using the same dress and shoes for two nights, I'm planning on relying pretty heavily on the same basic cosmetic items instead of packing all of my eyeshadow palettes because I might maybe who knows want to wear a blue eyeshadow on a whim because I know I never will and it's a giant waste of precious suitcase space.

Here are my essentials:

With these and a few eyeliner pencils I should be able to paint my face to perfection every night.

On the last trip, I painted my nails black for the entire trip and just kept adding coats of polish to cover the chips.  It worked great!  And I think black nails looks super chic when they are nicely done.  My favorite black polish is from Avon and it's called Warm Black.  I think it might be discontinued which is sad because it flows onto the nail so well.  So it looks like I need to start hoarding that one.

Okay... so this has been a post about absolutely nothing, but I've enjoyed it because I am seriously so excited about this trip.  Bless your heart if you read this entire thing... you're a real trooper.