Landlord Files II

 

Came home on Valentine's Day to a note taped to my door. "A secret admirer!" was my first thought.

Nope, just the landlord.

Yes, his dad is the REAL landlord. As in, I think he's the one that owns the house since I write the checks out to him. It takes him a month to cash the checks normally, so this was really torture.

A friend also told me this looked like "serial killer handwriting" when I showed the note to her, so there's that. She also thinks he keeps his girlfriend chained up in his apartment which is why no one ever sees her. But that's another story.

 

Last Week

Last week was an ass kicker. Meetings all day every day at work. We're reorganizing our department AGAIN, and man is it exhausting.

By the time the weekend rolled around I felt like I'd been run over by a truck and all I wanted to do was be a vegetable. Which is exactly what I did. Luckily the weather cooperated and it was snowy and windy and cold and perfect for staying in the house all weekend and not putting on real pants.

Sometimes you just need to hibernate, you know?

This week has been quieter luckily. Today I'm feeling pretty exhausted though, and the only cure is flannel, a comfy couch, and sleepy time tea.

I think I really just want spring.

Happy Valentine's Day!

xoxo

The Landlord Files

So. I kind of stalk my landlord.

Maybe not stalk, per se, but I consider myself very tuned in to his life.

Okay, maybe not "very tuned in" so much as I observe what I can and then make up stories about him.

This is normal, right?

We live in a two family house. He lives upstairs and I live downstairs. We both live alone. Like he's not making stories up about my life too.

For instance, when I first moved in he said he was hardly ever home because he stayed at his girlfriend's all the time.

This is false. He is ALWAYS HOME. And he NEVER MOVES. Like, he is the most sedentary person I've ever witnessed. I never hear him walking and he barely leaves the house. He used to go to work every morning (I think he does construction? He dresses like he does, anyway), but a few months ago he just kind of stopped.

So naturally I assume he lost his job and his girlfriend broke up with him. Which was sad. So I was all "Landlord, me too. Well, not the job, but we are both here alone. Should we like, party or something? I notice you recycle an awful lot of beer bottles. I'm always down for a drink. You wanna come down and watch the Bachelor Monday night?"

Okay, I didn't actually say any of that because despite the fact that we sort of live together, I never see him. And I wouldn't talk to him if I did. I'm afraid he'll ask where Ex-Boyfriend went and it will be A Situation. So I'm just hoping he's as dumb as I think he is and he hasn't noticed.

So for now I just observe and judge. I'm sure this is normal...right?

January 2013 Recap

Well 2013 is here and I feel like it's kicking my ass a little bit. January was a hard month.

Things at work got iffy there for a few weeks and it was rough. Happily, things have settled down and are looking up. I'm glad that was short lived. Is there any worse feeling than hating your job and panicking about what you're going to do about it? Well yeah, actually, there are. Which brings me to my next point:

Breakups are hard, man. I'm going to leave it at that.

On the bright side, I did reach my fitness goals for January! I'm back into a workout routine. It sadly doesn't include nearly enough cardio right now, because I cancelled my gym membership (yup, the only person in the world who cancels a gym membership in January) and I'm waiting for the new one they're putting in at work to be open.

I did manage to run outside on a couple of warm days so that was good. Most importantly, I lost five pounds! Ten more to go! I'm aiming for four or five pounds a month, so I'm glad I at least got that off to a good start.

Not much else happened in January, apparently. I bought a heated blanket and saw Les Mis, according to Facebook.

Speaking of movies, I also saw Silverlinings Playbook. SO GOOD. GO SEE IT NOW. For real you guys.

February is off to a promising start, though I'm still in hibernation mode. It IS winter, after all. I'm okay with this. I am sticking by my Winter of Me philosophy and spending time with myself. It may seem boring and antisocial, but it feels right, so it must be what I need right now. I'm a big believer in going with your gut.

I'm not sad to see you go, January. February: please be kind!

Nemo 2013

Don't know if you heard, but New England was pummeled with a major snowstorm on Friday and Saturday (named Nemo, we apparently name snowstorms now). I went to stay at my mom's on Friday night and didn't make it home until this morning. We weren't even allowed on the roads until after 4pm on Saturday. It was crazy pants, yo.

Digging out yesterday took forever, and people were still digging out today. We got at least two feet of snow, more in some places. You can see how much it was from the picture of my car that took FOR-EV-ER to clean off and in the last picture the fence that is nearly covered. It was fun being snowed in, but let's keep out fingers crossed that this was the first and last storm of the season!

Friday Favorite: Clarisonic Mia

I'm bringing back the Friday Favorite!

It's easy to write. I will never run out of Favorite Things. And I love sharing my favorite things with people.

We're jumping back in with my beloved Clarisonic Mia brush:

What?: Clarisonic Mia Skin Care System. I have the blue one, just like above, but it comes in a bunch of different colors (and patterns)!

Why?: It gets your skin super clean and soft. Seriously, the best thing ever. I can definitely see a change in my skin. It's clearer and smoother than ever. And obviously, the more often you use it, the better the results. I use it once a day at night, but I'm thinking about bumping it up to twice a day. Winter is the ideal time to really break out this bad boy. In the summer I use it a bit less, since I don't want to exfoliate off what little tan I get on my face. Terrible, I know.

How much?: $120. Worth every penny. You do need to switch out the brush head every so often, and those cost $25. They recommend every three months but I may have gone a year before I replaced mine...oops. I'd say you can use your own discretion on this. I'm sure they get germy and gross, but I gave mine a good scrubbing every once in awhile and it was fine.

Tote-aly

I have a million tote bags. Free ones I've collected over the years, ones for carrying my groceries, ones for my gym stuff...but none of them are particularly classy. Or even remotely nice. Since one of my goals this year is to spend more mindfully, I've been thinking about tossing all my ratty looking bags and replacing them with something classic I can keep for years. Here are a few I'm particularly loving:

1. Zara Large Shopper // 2. Madewell Transport Tote // 3. J. Crew Tartine Tote // 4. Longchamp "Le Pliage"

I think I"m leaning towards the Madewell tote. It's my favorite go-with-everything color and I like the simplicity of it. What do you guys think?