Friday, September 4, 2009

State of My World

You all are awesome! Thanks so much for voting in my book poll. The winner was Loving Frank, so I'll be starting that this weekend. Second place was a tie between Best Friends Forever and Julie and Julia, so I'll start one of them after I finish Loving Frank. (Wait, that sounded dirty.) And I think some of you voted in the comments and not in the actual poll, because several people mentioned Odd Thomas, but it only had one vote in the poll, so I'll put it in the "to read soon" pile.

Random updates on frivolous things I have talked about before:
The too-small purse: Still too small, but I'm kind of making it work. I'm nothing if not stubborn. (And lazy - I really don't want to move all my stuff over to another purse.) It's still a challenge if I want to, y'know, get anything out of my purse, but it looks good and that's all that matters, right?

My hair: I recently made a change I never would have thought I'd be bold enough to try - I'm letting most of my hair air-dry. And going to work. To me, this is scandalous. (Yes, I should get out more.) One of my co-workers did it the other day and her hair is very similar to mine. Long, very wavy, with bangs. She had styled her bangs and let the rest air-dry. It was still wet when she got to work. So I thought, "Hell, if she can do it, why can't I?" So the next morning, I dried my bangs, styled them, sprayed leave-in conditioner on the rest and went to work. No one pointed and laughed, or said, "Really? You couldn't even brush your hair this morning?", so I've worn it that way the last 3 days. I asked a couple of my friends and they've all said it looks good, so I think I've pulled off a major coup here. I don't have to spend 20 minutes straightening and styling my hair every morning. Shhh...don't tell. I do need a good product to make it not be fuzzy, though. That's the only thing that needs improvement on this look. So if you have suggestions, please let me know.

I'm totally in a care package mood right now and I want to buy copies of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and send them to everyone I know, so if you want a copy of the book and a small care package, email me your name and address and I'll put one together for you.

I'm going to a baby shower this weekend for the friend who told me she was pregnant 6 days after my miscarriage. I think it's going to be okay, because I really am to the point where I can be happy, even for her, even though every time I think about her pregnancy in specific it brings back thoughts of my miscarriage. I think since my miscarriage, I've been in a slight depression. Not bad, I really didn't even notice until it lifted last week. I just felt kind of blah, kind of boring and not interested in anything, really. I didn't have anything to say, on here or in person and when I did talk, I felt like all I did was bitch. Last week, I suddenly realized that I felt more awake, more alive and wanted to reach out more. I started posting more here, which I'm really enjoying and randomly decided to send a care package to Shelly Overlook, just because she's always so nice. And I don't say that to brag on myself or anything, just to show how different I feel. I feel lighter and like a fog has lifted. I appreciate my friends and the people around me. So that's another reason why I'm not worried about going to my friend's shower. I think I'm ready.

13 comments:

Pickles and Dimes said...

You are so cute, sending packages out to people. :)

I'm glad you're feeling more social and alive - you're such an awesome person and I'm happy to see new posts from you.

Have a great weekend!

P.S. I already read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and thought it was just OK. Is the next book better? Should I try it? I trust your judgement!

Jess said...

I am so glad you're feeling better. You SOUND better, and that's great.

Shelly said...

Aww...Shauna, thank you!

Yes, I think Fire is better than Dragon Tattoo. (okay, I'm umcomfortable with that sentence. I think they're both great. I love them equally. Good God, it's like they're my children!) I found the "financial intrigue" in Dragon Tattoo more than a little boring. Fire has a better central mystery and there's LOTS more Lisbeth, which improves any book, imo. I love her. Fire explains her background and what makes her who she is. Fire focuses more on the main characters, Lisbeth and Mikail, and less on peripheral characters whom we don't care as much about (the Vangers). And the final scenes in Fire are so tense my heart was racing. I could feel it.

The fact that you said you trust my judgement made my day!

Shelly said...

Jess - thank you! I wondered if it was coming across here.

nicole said...

I wasn't reading your blog when you lost your baby. I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'm glad that you are at a place that you can celebrate with others as they welcome a baby.

If I didn't already have the book I would ask for a care package!

Shelly said...

Nicole - Thank you very much. It was back at the very beginning of March. I wasn't very far along - about 8 weeks or so. But thank you, I really appreciate your kindness.

How about a care package with another book? Email me at sm_rl@hotmail.com with your address and I'll put something together!

Anonymous said...

I'm about 40 pages into Dragon and I'm glad to know it isn't just me bored by the financial stuff. I started reading thinking "Oh god, Shelly thinks I'm smarter or more savvy than I am! How embarrassed am I going to be when I can't finish the book b/c it keeps putting me to sleep??"

BUT, I finally just met Lisbeth and I can feel the goodness that is going to come.

Thank you again. Truly. MWAH!

OH - and do we get to see a pic of the new hair?

Janssen said...

Glad things are looking up - life sounds pretty happy!

Shelly said...

Shelly - HAHAHA!!! Yeah, I felt that way, too. I will say, though, that when I read it the second time, I paid more attention to the financial stuff and understood it better. So it is possible to understand it, but not necessary. I think you will LOVE Lisbeth. And you're welcome, of course.

I do have a new camera phone, so you may be getting pictures of several things, my hair being one of them.

Shelly said...

Janssen - Thank you. Life is looking pretty damn good right now. And Halloween is just around the corner, which means dressing my kids in fun costumes. So there's lots to look forward to, as well!

Alice said...

a) i keep hearing such good things about this book! it's definitely on my to-read list...

b) i second the request for a hair pic, please! although i'll just get jealous because if i let my hair air-dry it becomes a stringy, lanky mess and there is apparently NO WAY to make this not happen. and it makes me sad.

Shelly said...

Alice - up for a care package?

I'm going to post some now!

Anna said...

Hi there. New reader to your blog - found you on blog share. Have some hair styling advice. I use Sally Hershberger style primer. It used to be only sold at Walgreens but I just found it at Target recently. I just scrunch through my hair and let it air dry everyday. Once it's mostly dry, I run my fingers through to make sure no bits are sticking up. This is usually once I get to work. Great waves, no frizz and I run my fingers through my hair all day because I play with my hair a lot and it still looks great!