Red and Pink trend and looking at pretty stuff -

I read all the Twilight books and couldn't wait for each movie to come out. I'm Team Edward. I loved the books not because I actually have anything to do with being in love with a vampire or being crazy awkward in high school or also having werewolves protect me, but I like to read about people falling in love.  Then the movies allowed me to watch characters I liked in a book, be played by beautiful people, and then act out said book. I like to look at beautiful people falling in love. I also like to look at house magazines and admire a kitchen that is very different (and cleaner) than my own, and peruse the style section of the New York Times and wonder where I would wear those super high heels if I owned them. 

Sometimes it's just fun to observe.

There is a new trend that I am enjoying observing and unless I locate pajamas that fit this description I may never wear it. It is simply the style of wearing RED and PINK together. Who knew?  Not me, but I love it.

Here are a bunch bunch of beautiful people doing it - 

I took this montage from a fun site - this site that is targeted at younger girls - source

And this pretty dress is discussed on this site - source2

And all of these came from another fun site - source3.  I especially love the top left photo of the girl with the clutch - she has a Kendri Everyday type blog, but more high fashion and I can't think of her name.  If you know it write me so I can acknowledge her as well.

I would have happily added links to glamour mag articles about this trend and other time-wasters, but all the articles were super lame, so never mind.  You can google "red and pink" if you feel like it and see what I mean, or share if you find a worthwhile tidbit. 

I prefer the big, bold statements, like the ones I have shown here - rather than a dress with simply a red and pink combined motif.  I like the gutsiness of red pants and a hot pink shirt.  Yeah! Take that world!

It would be really fun if you Tired Girls emailed me your Tired Girl version of this trend.  I have added a photo of pajama pants (also known as "work pants" in these parts) in pink and red - but they are not as edgy as what Sarah Jessica Parker has going on.  It's okay though - like I said, sometimes it's just fun to observe, and that may be where I find myself with this trend.  Just watching for it from the comfort of my sofa.

The point of this is not to create my own look, but I am sharing my Tired Girl version anyway.  

If you have a Tired Girl version of the Red and Pink trend please post it on my FB page, tweet it to @thetiredgirl or email it to me at tiredgirl.notes@gmail.com.

Mad about being a Tired Girl -

I am living in an energy deficit.  I am in the red.  I work all day, each day during the week specifically to get the big things done - my full time job and the basics at home: food and laundry, cleaning up enough to not live in a pig sty and paying the bills - those are the basics. I also sleep (at night) and check facebook, and exercise and talk to my husband and mom and maybe a friend or too, I shower and sometimes I pluck my eyebrows and also buy paper towels and shampoo at Target. I get THINGS done, but I rarely get ahead.  

It infuriates me that I so rarely get to look at the other list of stuff, the interesting things or important, but not immediately pressing things.  I have one closet full of belongings that I don't know what to do with and strangely that one closet is standing between me and total serenity and I NEVER get to that closet.  There is not enough energy/time left to take on that stupid effing closet once I get all the daily stuff done.  I had a teeny meltdown about it today and it reminded me of a post I shared a few months ago.  

Here is a pair of what I think are very pretty shoes that I have
photographed to sell on ebay (because when you work from
you don't normally wear heels around the house), but I have yet
actually list them.

Today I feel mad that I am a Tired Girl and not an Energetic Girl - my eyes are all squinty and glarey about it.  So, to pump myself  up and remind myself that to have the good life I have to work a little harder then my body instinctively cares to do. 

I am going to try and channel my anger this week into pushing myself harder,  because I have interests, damn it, that are outside of just basic survival and I need to get some stuff done.

Here is my post from March. 

A friend of mine posted this on her Facebook page last week.  I'm pretty sure the guy in this pic is talking about his abs, which is cool for him.

this dude's version of pushing harder MAY be different than my version

Unlike many things on Facebook that we scroll over, this really stuck with me, but not in relation to my abs (poor abs - so neglected*). 

Every day, because of this quote, I pushed just a little bit harder at different parts of my day to have a better tomorrow - even if it was something like read a few more pages in my book at night before falling asleep (I have a huge stack of books I want to read and it's hard to get through them when I fall asleep after one page OR accidentally shop for shoes on my ipad instead of reading any of them). 

 I won't bore you, with the laundry list of things I worked harder at - you would really understand what a Tired Girl I am if I told you, and possibly think my existence was small, or that I am a weensy bit koo-koobeans or something. So just assume I pushed harder at mastering existentialism or something kick-ass like that. 

I just thought I'd share this, in case this gym poster changed your whole life, like it may have changed mine. 

*Ab workout is on the to-do list that I lost.

A quick way to remember your whole life -

For no particular reason I am working to remember my life. 

Growing up, my family moved about every two years. My dad's job with Westin hotels brought us all over the country.  This made remembering parts of my life easy.  Someone says something about 1988 and I remember where I lived, what grade I was in and what my house and bedroom were like in 1988, because a year later I was in a different grade and a different house - perfect time capsules.  It compartmentalizes my brain and makes recall easy.  Now as an adult I don't move houses every two years and I have similar jobs and the same husband and friends and clothes and in Florida it's the same season all year and so things get blurry.  What year did we first start trying to get pregnant?  How many years have I taught?  When did I buy my car?  What year did we go to San Francisco?  The answer to almost all those questions is - "I don't know." The bigger question is - why am I trying to remember - why do I care?  The answer there is the same. "I don't know."

It's no help that now that we are in the 2000's and 2003 feels the same as 2007 when I picture the number in my brain. The 80's didn't feel that way. 

Years ago I created what I call my "timeline." I won't say that Facebook stole this term from me as Zuckerberg doesn't know my brain, but I did use it before he went public with it. Whatever.

My timeline is a document on my computer that lists each month of each year and starts when I graduated high school. I only have a few things written each month from back then as I didn't remember the mega details when I started my timeline, but in more recent years my months are a little more detailed.  I write a few months at a time and write big and small things for the month.  Where I work, mixed with a movie we saw that month, a big purchase, or a mini-trip, my mood, my health, our ages, etc.  It's not in sentence form, just words.  


One month I won't forget: November 2006 - Got married!

Here is a less interesting month (my comments are strangely personal, especially once we are working to get pregnant, so I had to find one that wasn't salacious)  - October of 2002:
 "Oct - living in Lakeland; hired at McBride’s campaign; Miami trip w/ Joe and campaign, met Clinton, drank bloody marys"

Thrilling I know. I refer to my timeline often though - for different things and it's also fun to see my state of mind or activities.  Sometimes I will write one word and it means a huge big thing to me.  This is the Tired Girl's version of journaling.

Every so often I email the document to myself in google so if all of my computers crashed and my thumb drives disappeared I have a new copy for myself living in cyberspace.  

I admit there have been years that I have gotten way behind or looked back at a year and thought man that was a rinky dink year - nothing remarkable for a 12 whole months, or some months that hurt to even read my comments. Writing down a few things from each month doesn't take much energy at all though, and sure has a big impact in the long run.  Some day when my timeline is 35 pages long I can look back at my whole life!  

And my last two statements about this - if you are still awake.
  
1) If it feels too overwhelming to go back and remember, or you have times/years you want to forget, then don't go back. Just start from this month - August of 2013 can be the beginning of your whole life. Hooray!

2) Be honest in your words - this is only for you to look at so put the truth, in the long run you'll be glad to see what you were really doing and really felt. I have plenty of months and whole years I wouldn't want anyone to see.

Anyone else have an easy, Tired Girlish way that they keep track of their lives? 

I buy dinner the day I shop for food -

I buy dinner the day I shop for food. There that's my whole post. 

Here is more though. When I worked away from my home, like a normal person, I would often go grocery shopping after work, when I was pooped.  Some days I'd have a list, because I would have an actual plan of meals, and sometimes I just screeched around corners, tipped food in my cart, and hoped for the best.

Even though it seems counter-intuitive, the days I grocery shop are the same days I also don't cook.  Am I surrounded by defrosted meat and other fresh and perishable items?  Yes.  Am I tired simply from doing two things in one day - working and shopping? Yes. Do I want to unload my food, cook and clean up when I get home?  Heck no. Rotisserie chicken and a bag of salad it is!! Or, sushi from the sushi counter it is!!  Or Publix sub sandwiches it is!!  Or, on days with less self-control, Publix fried chicken it is!! 

I reserve the laziest of meals - cereal, or pick-ups, or whatever - for days when I can't even leave my house for real food.  But on these shopping days, I am at the store already.  I just did awesome by buying healthy and high quality food for my family so I am calling the rest in, and calling it a day.

This idea ranks up there with the intellectual level of "jeans make an outfit."  But either,
 a) you never thought of this and so I helped you or 
 b)  you do this too and now we have each other or 
 c) you would never lower yourself to rotisserie chicken and now you can feel better than me which is awesome.

Here is a list of yummy sounding, medium healthy recipes using rotisserie chicken.   If you pick up one to eat hot and one for another night - these could be fun (as fun as making dinner can be).  
Southern Living Rotisserie Chicken Recipes - 

My two favorite bags of salad - I don't even think they are that healthy and yes they are in a bag. 

Anyone have a favorite prepared meal that you get at the store? 

Weight Watchers -

I have gained some weight. My secret exercises, six minutes on the treadmill and vacuuming hasn't been enough lately to fight my love of gluten-free brownies, gelato, and sitting around.  Quite simply the clothes I like to wear feel tight.  So I am doing Weight Watchers online.

I  had some success with Weight Watchers in the past and like it enough to try it again.  I like it because if I really want a cinnamon roll or if I am going out to dinner I can account for that in my points throughout the day.  I do not feel too deprived.  I sometimes feel hungry, because I have trained my body to want more than I need, but I don't feel deprived.

I don't have anything too interesting to say about this, but just thought I would share my review of Weight Watchers and weight loss.

When I first signed up I got some kind of 3 months for the price of one or something, but now I pay $18 a month for access to the site and tracking capabilities.

I like being able to put in my exact meals (brands, etc)  and amounts and learn the point value associated with them. I  am often surprised at how many points some foods have or don't have.  The good thing about WW is once you use it enough, you have an idea about how many points certain things are.  So whether you are are consciously using WW that month or not, it does give you a concept.

I don't know if WW is really for Tired Girls as it absolutely takes more energy then I really want to use.  I have to THINK about what I am eating, ADD up stuff in my head, and TRACK on the computer, each meal.  Bleh.  But I believe studies have shown that when people keep a food diary they are healthier and more successful with their weight goals - and obviously all that stupid tracking is a diary of sorts.

It takes me a long time to gain weight. I happily put cinnamon rolls and beer in my mouth and when nothing happens for months I am not inspired to stop and then BAM! I'm 6 pounds up.  Ugh.  So the same goes for the loss - it takes me a long time of being conscious of it to lose anything - sometimes I think how well I have done the last three days and I am sure I will see big results on the scale - ofcourse I do not.  It took me about 3 weeks to lose any weight (according to my temperamental scale, the first time I did it, but I did feel less puffy earlier I guess.)

Oprah says to not weigh yourself for a LONG time (like a month or so) if you are working to lose weight - if you lose weight according to the scale you will possibly feel like you are doing great and slack off a little, if you don't see any weight loss you will get discouraged and slack off a little.  What this says about our psyche I am not sure, but for me, I think she is right. 

The key is to finding what works for you. Here is my favorite WW cookbook.

So, I am working on WW and some times being good at it and sometimes not, and sometimes pretending like cinnamon rolls don't count for any points, and sometimes accidentally not eating anything much most of the day to save up for an evening event, and then feeling like crap and realizing the point is not to use all your points on one meal and not eat otherwise, but to eat SENSIBLY - oh duh.  

This is not my dog, he belongs to a friend. I like his attitude.


 So Weight Watchers is not perfect, not for everyone and not a lot of fun, but I am trying it.

Best eyeliner ever -

Eyeliner damn it.  I am so stinking sad about the loss of my sweet dog, and it feels forced to do anything besides slump around and be morose, but I am pushing myself to just be a Tired Girl and not a Sad Girl so I am going to tell you about the best eyeliner ever.

I have had a long, hateful relationship with eyeliner.  It is one makeup that I actually use all the time. If it is a day that I wear makeup then eyeliner is involved - just a little, and I feel human and feminine.  

My problem has been finding one that stays on until I want it to come off. I have tried more that don't do this, than do.  "Raccoon eyes", "smudged all over", "completely gone in an hour", or "permanent marker" seem to be my eyeliner-look choices until now.  

I have emailed girl friends to see what they use and if they like it, I have stopped co-workers in the hall and women I don't know to find out what they were wearing.  The consensus has been this, basically:  This is what I use and I don't really like it, because of this and this and this reason.  Many women I have asked don't wear it at all because they haven't had luck with it and it looks worse than nothing, so they skip it.

Eyeliner is a non-negotiable to me, so I have pursued.  I recently ordered Bobbi Brown's Longwear Gel Eyeliner after watching her use it on QVC one evening.  But before it arrived I grabbed a new eyeliner at Target that I had never seen before, and I was hooked.  

I borrowed this photo from the awesome
website: http://nouveaucheap.blogspot.com/

 Covergirl's "Ink it! Perfect Point Plus Eyeliner" ($5.99 ish) has really worked for me - I am pleased to say that I love it!!

It does this weird thing where I put it on, it looks good, it stays on all day and at night it almost completely comes off while I wash my face, and the rest is easily wiped off with my eye makeup remover. I hear harp music - do you? 

I conducted a non-scientific experiment.  I put this eyeliner on (in the chocolate color) one morning, then took lots of awkward photos of my eyes, and then took more photos of my eyes late that night to show you the difference.  I should have just photographed my whole face so you could see the overall effect, but whatever.  I also drew a line on my hand for you to see the look up close, then wore the line around all day to show the wear. 

Here are a some photos of stuff.  

Not the best representation, but you get the idea.  You can tell - I hope - that the eyeliner
wore off a little and is the teeniest bit smudged by the time I went to wash my face before bed.
Not bad though.

Here is a photo I took of myself, experimenting with the aquamarine and black eyeliner.  Boy, was Joe surprised when he got home that evening.  Not really - this is a stock photo of the product.

Again, not very scientific. I drew this line with the chocolate eyeliner on my hand. I obviously washed my hands a lot throughout the day and don't generally wash my eyes several times a day, but I actually think this is a pretty accurate representation.  The area where it is still dark is where I went over it twice. I like that there is still some left, but not a lot and that it's not smudged.

If any one has an eyeliner they love, then I would love to know what it is, for backup.  

Hermit-mode - it's a thing -

Though I am mostly a people person, I occasionally go in to hermit-mode.  Hermit-mode is what it sounds like - I retreat in to my shell - hermit style. I practically envision myself pulling all my little hermit crab limbs inward and closing my hermit crab shell door.  Click.  

For a few weeks or more emails and phone calls go un-answered.  Parties unattended. 
Make-up un-worn. Facebook status updates un-typed and un-"liked." And apparently blog posts unwritten.

I am not sad and not more tired than usual, this is not a depression, just a total decompression. It is not conscious until I'm in the throes of it, and then I realize it is happening, and then I settle in.  And frankly I highly recommend it.

For me it typically occurs over the summer. When I taught at a regular school I would shut down for a few weeks over the summer knowing I would be fully rested when school started. Now that I teach from home, summer is my busiest time for work, but a hermit-style attitude still works for me. 

I have a friend that goes in to hermit-mode after Christmas - her January is spent all closed up.

I wish that "hermit-mode" was a real thing though.  It's all about me and no one else and so I don't want people's feelings hurt when I don't acknowledge them for weeks at a time.  I wish I could change my facebook setting to "Hermit-Mode."

I wish I could type people these few words and have it mean something:  

"Dear Friend, Hermit-mode, love The Tired Girl."

And they would say "Oh sure, sure she's in hermit-mode, of course." 

The loss of my beloved dog has simply made this year’s hermit-mode more pronounced, possibly longer and with decidedly more crying involved than a usual season.

I borrowed this sign from some one the internet, then edited it to read my words.
So I did not take this photo - I just edited the heck out of it.

I would assume that most Tired Girls and maybe even some not-so-tired girls go in to this, as it is a feeling independent of being a Tired Girl.

Does anyone have a more charming name for it than hermit-mode?

Does anyone have favorite hermit-type activities they enjoy when in this frame of mind? Hermits watch movies, right?

Does anyone do it regularly – planned or not – the way I do?

Does anyone mind that I am incredibly uninteresting tonight – my hermitness has affected my brain.  

This is apparently a book. I love the idea of setting up a "crabitat," but that would entail planning, movement, thinking and being actively engaged - all of which are not parts of hermit-mode.