Fixy things

Just a little somethin' for ya so that PMS Barbie isn't at the top of my blog for too long. Yikes.

Matt did some kind of fixy thing with our super slow computer which involved moving all the files. So I have a random array of "backup" photo folders. With photos like this one, which is me at about age 1 or 2 wearing a giant fluffy pink dress. I totally remember that dress.

Speaking of which, what do you do to keep your digital photos, and music for that matter, from becoming as bloated and unwieldy as a giant fluffy pink dress on a toddler? See what I did there? I'm trying to decide what to do. Especially since my real computer (where I load real photos from my real camera) is a PC and my fake computers (which store my fake photos from my fake camera aka my phone) are Macs. Before anything, I need to go through and delete a ton of stuff. Then the maintenance. Maybe I need to find a better cloud option. I really dig the metadata options in iPhoto, but that's not helpful with my PC, and I'm not that familiar with the options in Picasa or Flickr or other similar services. Anyway. Just some thinking. What am I missing? Why are the librarian's music and photos so disorganized?? Maybe a clue would be that I use words like "fixy thing"?

My poll!

My poll! Say it like Old Man Peabody says "My pine!" in Back to the Future.

What, you haven't seen Back to the Future 87 times? Well, get thee hence. Possibly my most oft-quoted movie besides You've Got Mail.

Anyway. My poll. See, over there. -->

Private wins by a nose.

I fell into a burning ring of fire

Generally when people rave about a TV show my reaction is, "Sorry, don't have the time." You might think I mean that I don't have the time because my life is filled with meaningful things (which it is, kind of, I mean I do other stuff besides washing sheets) but it is more because I already watch too much TV. Granted I watch most of it online and almost all of it several days or even weeks late, but I still watch a lot. Between Lost, Desperate Housewives (don't judge), Scrubs, The Office, and 30 Rock, how am I supposed to squeeze anything else in? Plus the occasional episode of House that Matt makes me watch. Luckily most of my other favorites have been canceled. (Pushing Daisies, anyone? Veronica MARS, for heaven's sake?!)

But I've now watched 2 performance episodes of American Idol in a row. I even watched them live, using my TV. It's almost unheard of. I watched it 2 weeks ago because I had read an article on the plane about it and wanted to check out, first and most importantly, Michael Jackson Night, and second, the tattoo-sleeved girl from Utah. Then I watched it last week because hello, Opry Night! Matt doesn't want me to get into American Idol, because then I monopolize the TV which is also the computer. But I like the company while he's at Mutual on Tuesdays, plus our antenna is broken so I don't trust the DVR, and then it's not like I can stop watching an episode in the middle.

I'm not addicted or anything--not that it can't happen--but it's kind of fun to watch the performances and judges live. In HD, so I can enjoy the pancake makeup without the limitations of that pesky camera.

What would you do? (If you answer "get a new antenna" then we are definitely on the same page.)

Second-day hair

My hair always looks better on the second day. Sleep flattens my poofy hair in a way no product or tool can. It took me a while to figure this out, but once I did, there was no going back. Two questions I have about this, though:

1) How can I make first-day hair look like second-day hair? Sometimes I can, actually, if I am able to take a nap before my hair dries completely. But really...if I wash it and let it air-dry it can be disastrous, particularly in humidity. But I don't do flatirons, blow dryers, or curling irons anymore...maybe I will take them up again someday but to be honest I don't even know where I've put them or if I still have them...so, any suggestions?

2) How can I take advantage of third-day hair so that my hair looks halfway decent 2/3 of the time instead of 1/2? Since I usually use a little bit of product on both the first and second day, by the third day things can get a little scary by the roots even if the shape is OK. I have thought about baby powder or dry shampoo. Do these work?

I suppose I could just ask my Personal Hairstylist these questions, but I am interested in your answers too. Plus she reads this blog anyway. (Except that she had a BABY last night! Welcome, Baby Sterling!!)

More decisions.

Does anyone have experience with an Ergo or a Beco?

Since I don't want to get a double stroller anytime soon, and our Baby Bjorn only lasted us about 4 months last time (although it was great for those 4 months), I want to get a structured carrier that's designed to wear in front or back, from newborn to toddler. Also, I didn't love wearing a sling once Theo got heavier.

I was planning on getting an Ergo--never met an Ergo owner who wasn't obsessed--and then found out about the Beco. After having spent an hour reading online about Ergo vs. Beco vs. a zillion other structured carriers (Babyhawk, Angel Pack...), I am leaning toward Beco. It's lighter, taller, and not as bulky-looking, and there's much more to choose from in terms of fabrics.

But as always I thought I'd put it to you to give me your opinion, should you have one. I'm not sure whether I will get feedback here since most of the Ergo owners I've met have been strangers and I've never seen any of my friends or family with a Beco.

It's fall, must be time for a pixie cut!

Jess is cutting my hair on Wednesday and you know how I've come to depend on my fellow bloggers for second, third, fourth, fifth opinions.

Let me preface with: as I have discussed with you before, I know a haircut won't make me any less pregnant. But I like getting shorter cuts in the fall and I don't think Jess or I will have much time for haircuts after our babies our born (due at the same time).

Should I go for a few inches off but retain the same style I've had all year (which I do really love and is super easy--I never blow-dry it and rarely even brush it);

add bangs and keep the sides a little long (imagine Katie Holmes's old haircut in blonde, I think it would work--I am actually imagining this one more stacked in the back);


or do a super-shortie? But also probably stacked in the back. I don't get my hair cut often enough to avoid the mullet that is a side effect of non-stacked coifs. My concern with this one is that it could be deceptively high-maintenance with my hair, which has a tendency towards natural puffiness.

Perhaps I should expand my hairstyle options to include the other members of the original cast of Dawson's Creek.

What would you choose...

Mazda5 ("the mini-minivan")--'07ish,


or Toyota Highlander--'04ish?


My thoughts:

The Mazda has a split second row--I love this even though it makes for 6 seats instead of 7. It's probably the biggest perk for me, randomly enough, but I think that makes sense since the second row will be full of car seats and therefore difficult to fold down to get to the back in a Highlander, should you want to.

The Mazda is sporty and cute, which is hard to tell from the picture--you can best appreciate its mini-ness in person. If you are a guy or otherwise like trucks/big cars, this might not be a huge selling point, but I like it. It has sliding doors. So, lots of perks of a minivan, without actually being a minivan.

The Toyota, though we need to go a little older to stay in our price range (we'd go older on the Mazda if we could), is more common and more available and therefore we have more choices--leather seats (not an option for our price range in the Mazda), automatic seats, perhaps even heated seats, things like that. 4-wheel drive, which you can't get in a Mazda5. Also, the Mazda5 doesn't have electronic stability control, which some would argue you don't need in a smaller vehicle, though it's going to be required in all cars within a few years. It does have an ActiveMatic transmission (similar to Tiptronic), which took me a second to realize, as I tried to get up to 35 while in first gear on a busy street a few weeks ago.

I don't love that every time I drive anywhere I see at least 3 Highlanders. (Although as Matt says, "There's a reason for that.") I don't love the look of the Highlander but I like it better than most smaller SUVs; in general, most SUVs and minivans seem bloated to me.

The two are in a similar price range and have a similar amount of space inside--both have third rows which will mostly remain folded down--the Mazda has slightly less cargo space behind the third row and slightly less space between the first and second rows, but because of the split middle and the windows, it looks roomier inside than the Toyota. The Mazda is a 4-cylinder and Toyota is 6...meaning we either get better gas mileage or more power. The Mazda would be newer, since the first model built was in '06, but again, more perks like leather seats are available in the Toyota. Also, for our price range and availability in the area, we'd probably have to buy a Mazda that was previously a rental (with 30K-ish miles on an '07).

I like the way they drive about equally. They are both built on car chassies.

I can't tell you much about colors, since we have been looking at a few different ones, but for example, of what we drove today, the Highlander was black and the Mazda was silver. Most likely we'd get leather seats in a Highlander and upholstered in a Mazda. We're planning to drive a few more on Monday.

Any thoughts? I think in general we're both leaning toward the Highlander, but I've gone back and forth a few times, and it will depend on the specific combination of price, miles, condition, etc. since we're buying used.

We'll most likely buy one or the other this week.

Question:

Post #3 of the day. I am almost to 1,000!

Jess is cutting my shaggy hair next week and I am trying to decide from among the following:

growing out my bangs and cutting off the mullet, resulting in a Sienna Millerish look,


orrrr, going back with another Sienna look with shorter bangs, only less trashy/whiny-faced,


orrrrr, attempting to emulate the love of my life, '60s Julie Andrews. (only more boyish, so without the parted-with-bangs look from Sound of Music.)


This is what my face looks like, speaking of 90s hair.


This is what Theo's face looks like (objection, irrelevant).

What would you do?

Try not to let personal feelings get in the way. Clearly I am cooler than Sienna, and Julie is cooler than both of us, but it's about the hair.

Overall

Speaking of the Sartster, does this mean that I should dust off my old overalls? I am just wondering because I still have them in a box in my closet.

I do see people wearing overalls but I am just saying that I don't normally see people wearing overalls featured on fashion blogs.

Although T is a doll in overalls and I regularly dress him in them, I have never felt very cute in overalls myself even when they were "in." It was always hard to find ones that fit right. Now when I see them around in stores they are more of the "skinny overall" look although that seems uncomfortable to me. Anyway maybe mine should just stay in the box.

So, check one. Overalls:

_due for a comeback
_not in this lifetime
_what are you talking about, I never took mine off.



For the record my vote is "due for a comeback along with chunky Mary Janes, chokers, and velvet." The Reality Bites look is easing back in and before we know it it will be all about the Rachel haircut again. Listen to me, I totally know what I am talking about.