Baby, It's Raining Outside...Come Inside, and Let's Get Nude!

Another cheesy title...oh, well. At least it perfectly describes today. LA's experiencing some rain this week. True to Angeleno-in-the-rain style, a drive that was supposed to take 25 minutes ended up taking 2 hours. People here just don't know how to drive in the rain. I nearly lost it as I was almost at my destination--inside my little car, I screamed to myself, "F*ck this! It's so not worth it!" and nearly turned around to go home. However, I'm not one to break promises, especially to my sister, with whom I had a shopping date at a consignment store tonight. I pulled myself together and made it to her house, albeit an hour and a half later than the time we were supposed to meet. She forgave me, so it was all good.

I tried on a See by Chloe dress, French size 40. It's supposed to be equivalent to a US 8, but honestly, it looked tiny. I tried it on, anyway. I pleasantly discovered that it actually fit! The zipper even went all the way up the side, and I was wearing a bulky sports bra (I didn't have any clean regular bras--I hang my head in shame as I admit this). I really do feel like I've lost weight, and a coworker even commented today that I looked like I did. I'm not really trying to--just eating a little less and trying to stay active (but without the gym--the environment just seems so stale to me). And the dress was much shorter than what I'm used to (about 6" above the top of my knee), but I don't think I looked that bad. I probably could've gotten away with it. However, I didn't end up getting the dress. It was black and gorgeous, but I still feel too self-conscious to pull it off, and I don't want to get sucked back into the cycle of buying clothes I'll never wear. I still have a fabulous Oscar de la Renta black lace number that is desperately waiting its debut!

I did, however, get nude (tee-hee) again--shoes, that is! A girl can never have too many. These are by Chloe, and they're so comfy (and I got a great deal on them, too). They're perfect for a little summery dress in a setting. They go with everything and will allow me to spare my precious Loubies, too, particularly in settings where walking on grass in inevitable. I'm sure they haven't even been worn. They have minimal scratching on the soles, similar to what you'd find with shoes you get on sale (after being tried on over and over). This is the first time I've bought shoes from a consignment store. I've never even bought shoes off ebay. I think I might do consignment stores again, but not ebay. I would want to see the shoe before I buy it. Come to think of it, that's how I am with shoes from any store. Getting to inspect the shoe before I buy it gives me peace of mind. It also allows me to engage in the pleasure of shopping, which includes building relationships with sales associates and taking home my purchase in a cute shopping bag, too. The shoes are a half-size bigger than I'd normally buy, but they still work. The ankle straps are a little long (as you'll see from my modeling pic), but I'm sure a short trip to Eddie's will result in some holes in the straps and fix the problem.

There's the Real World, Then There's LA

The city of Los Angeles has many nicknames, one of them being "La La Land". You can take the "La La" to mean "LA LA", LA being the abbreviation for Los Angeles. However, more often than not, "La La" refers to the chant repeatedly uttered with fingers inside one's ears when one is indicating that they're choosing to ignore a stimulus, like another person stating a point of view in strong disagreement. I've traveled to various cities and countries around the world, and what I've learned from all my travels is that Angelenos are unlike people anywhere else. We put our fingers in our ears and ignore the rest of the world. After all, our own little world is much more interesting...and a lot less depressing. I've known this for years, but events from this past week made me think pretty deeply about it. Rewind to yesterday. In order to protect the privacy of certain people, let's just say I was in a ladies' restroom somewhere in the city. In walks 2 minor celebrities. Like many female celebrities, they look like models. One of them gets into a stall to do her business, and she squeaks, "Omigod! These toilets are huge! You can fall in!". I'm thinking, Huh?! Honey, they're not that big to me! Let's just say I have a womanly figure, but I am in no way obese or even overweight (I wear a size 6, thankyouverymuch), and those toilets were just fine for me. If they were fine for me, I'm pretty sure they're fine for at least 90% of the women in America. But LA is not America. In LA, it's not uncommon to walk into a boutique and find that a size-6 woman like me can't fit into any of the clothes and has to walk away empty-handed, even though she really didn't want to. Drive along the streets and into the shopping centers...is driving a Range Rover really necessary for navigating CITY streets?! How often do Angelenos need an 8-passenger vehicle, especially in a city where everyone over the age of 16 has a car? Yup, those huge $100K cars that seat 8 passengers have just one passenger in them 98% of the time! Oh, and it's awards season. That means street closures galore. That's in addition to the traffic so bad that "I'm 15 minutes away" could mean you're 1 block from your destination. No Angeleno ever mentions how far away they are in terms of actual distance. It means nothing. And let's not mention the whopping 9.75% sales tax we pay for every purchase and the enormous state taxes. Groan... I once read an article that equated LA with ancient Greece. The gods lived along with the mortals, but of course everyone knew the difference. That's true in LA. A few years ago, I had been in a high-end shoe store with a B-list celebrity. We happened to be finished shopping and ready to pay at the same time. My total was given: full retail, as stated on the box. Her total: full retail, as stated on the box. Then she blurted, right in front of me, "Is the manager here? She usually gives me a little discount". The saleswoman gives her her new total: 20% off retail. Didn't even bother with discretion. After all, this is LA, and mere mortals like me should understand. Then, just as my annoyance with the city peaked, I drove along the Cahuenga pass. Sunshine all over the luscious green mountains. I look at the temperature display in my car: 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Then the annoyance passes...

Killer Manicure...at an Affordable Price!

At the suggestion of my sister, we headed to CVS today. She wanted to pick up a set of Sally Hansen Salon Effects. She was wearing a set of them today, in the "Skinny Jeans" color, and it looked awesome. Since CVS Extra Care card customers also got an extra $3 off $10 cosmetics purchases, I picked some up, too. I got 4 sets for $30, including sales tax! It's so much cheaper than getting a Minx Nails manicure at a salon, which can cost you upwards of $65 (although I have to admit that Minx has more variety in design). And it's very doable at home! I tried them for the first time, and within minutes, I figured it out. See the results in the pic on the left.

And Mom's doing well. Her surgery was finished in less than an hour, and she is up and about like she normally is. She didn't even need her pain meds! Yay, Mom!