Early morning swim, cocktails, and a plane ride

Some of my friends from work threw an awesome cocktail party last night for the solstice. The theme was Old Hollywood and fancy attire was requested. I squeezed myself into a pink silk Betsey Johnson dress (damn silk is not forgiving- but I still think I looked pretty good), put on eyeliner and heels and went to the party.

Marion, the party hostess, introduced me to Pimms at her winter solstice party. As excited as I was about actually dressing up for the first time since moving to Lake Taco, I was most excited about the Pimms. Unfortunately, a flight the next day and a 6:30 am swim date with Katie necessitated only two Pimms and an early leave time.

My early morning swim wasn't as painfully early as I was worried about, and felt great. I did 550 m and enjoyed the sun on my back and an energy boost before work. The county rec center where I swim has a decently nice pool, but the locker room leaves something to be desired. There's not even a swimsuit dryer! Creative solution:

I'm leaving work at 4 today to drive to Sacramento and then fly to Seattle. Tomorrow, KJW and I will drive up to Bellingham where the following things will happen:

• 80s Night
• Book club meeting
• Running at my favorite place to run
• Buying new running shoes
• Going to Target! (Don't judge...I'm deprived in the Wilderness)
• Visiting Don at Bellingham's classiest establishment
• Drinking soooo much good coffee
• Seeing my parents
• Getting my road bike!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Three Things Thursday - Random Edition

1. In less than 12 hours, I will be leaving this:

For this:

And this:

And this:

And my favorite ladies.

2. My mom scanned some of her wedding pictures and sent me one.

Adorable, isn't it? I totally want to get married in the 70's.

3. Earlier today I walked in on a man peeing. Ew. No pictures of that.

Tuesday's Bulleted List

Oh, hey! I thought it was Wednesday, but it's Tuesday. So I made a bulleted list.

• I have trouble keeping my plants alive. If they need to be watered more than twice a month, SOL. Currently, I have one live plant, one dead plant on my desk. Guess which one is the succulent.

KJW and my failed herb garden.

• Yesterday I bench pressed with 25 pound dumbbells. I felt impressive.
• I also kicked ass in spin class.
• It's snowing right now.
• I'm a subtle fake ginger right now. Inspired by my former roommate and all around kick ass person, Jennifer, and her awesome new hair, I'm thinking of kicking it up a notch. Maybe this:

• Tomorrow at our work retreat, we are having a Rock gift exchange. It's like a White Elephant gift exchange, but only featuring rocks. Too bad my most awesome rocks are in Washington.
• I need to go to yoga tonight. Blog world, yell at me if I do not go to yoga.
• It is snowing here today, it is 91 degrees in Orlando. 11 days. I am so excited!

Three Things Thursday - Question Edition

1. What should I do with my hair? Should I get bangs?

Right now my hair looks like this, but it's kind of a bizarre reddish color (thanks box dye!):

While sometimes I really like how I look with bangs,

My last haircut...not so much.

I have not got my hair cut since September because the last one was so bad. I'm now a little gun shy.

So what should I do? Bangs? No bangs? Embrace the whole magenta-hair-thing and dye my hair pink?

2. What should I bring to Orlando with me?

Besides Everclear.

I'm going to Harry Potter Land with the BLs for KJW's bachelorette bacchinalia. What do I bring? My family is not amusement park people. Or really vacation people. We went to Disneyland when I was four, but I literally don't remember anything about the trip other than sitting outside of Space Mountain because I was too small to go on it. I've also never been to Florida.

What do I bring? What are some amusement park essentials?

3. What are some good exercises that I can do throughout the day?

I am inspired by Rose's EXTREME OFFICE WORK OUTS and I want to start incorporating them throughout the day.

What should I try? Squats? Lunges? Bicep curls with my coffee mug?

Three Things Thursday - Zombie Edition

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted! Time flies when you're having fun.

1. I have been house sitting for a girl that I work with while she is in China. The best part of house sitting is this:

This is Lassen, swimming in the barely-above-freezing Lake Taco. Don't worry. He loves it.

Lassen loves the water!

2. It was my 27th birthday on Tuesday! That meant beer, cake, and more beer.

Terrible picture, delicious cake.

3. No internet + awesome bookshelf = a ton of reading. I went on a reading binge this weekend and read 4 books in three days. It was amazing.

• World War Z by Max Brooks: If you like post-apocalyptic fiction, zombies, and being scared, or preparing for the coming Zombie Apocalypse, you'll like this book. Note: do not read late at night the first night you spend all alone in a strange house in the middle of the woods.
• Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston: This is a great instruction manual for chopping off your own hand. Possibly a useful skill in the coming Zombie Apocalypse.
• Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris: The first book in the series that True Blood is based on. Enjoyable, smutty vampire romance. Useful if it's a Vampire Apocalypse instead of a Zombie Apocalypse.
• The Lost City of Z by David Grann: The Victorian Era- when men were men, women didn't have any fun, and everybody was really, really racist. Famed explorer/scientist/boat builder/gentleman Percy Fawcett disappears searching the Amazon jungle for the Lost City of Z. Made me realize I'd rather brave the Zombie Apocalypse than get lost in the Amazon Jungle.

Anyone else read any good books lately? Anybody else have a plan in mind for the Zombie Apocalypse?