Still Naked

I do hate shopping, there's no denying it. I don't like wasting my time in malls looking for things I'll never find or being followed by the omnipresent smell of hot dogs and popcorn... there's food everywhere! (Small paranthesis - when we went to A Thousand Isles, we even saw a tour bus called "The Food Bus" - everywhere you turn there's food, too much food! I get tons of cravings, if I see anyone eating a piece of old bread I want to have some, but even I am disgusted by the mixture of smells and the food obsesion I encounter all over the place. This might be my cure... )

Anyway, last night I felt like going and buying clothes. It wasn't the crazy Christmas shopping spirit; as I've said, I had been cleaning and I noticed that I don't have that many clothes. I know, if any gentleman happens to read this, he'll frown and think: "don't all women say that?". Most of us do, I agree, but I actually don't have that many clothes. Even my husband admitted to it; after saying that my wardrobe is full, I explained to him that I don't throw things out (which gave him another good reason to scold me :P ), but that doesn't mean I have enough sweaters, skirts or "nice" :D tops. He agreed :D.

Main point is, we entered the first store and I immediately found a cute blouse and a sweater I've wanted for a long time. I was ecstatic, I could actually imagine myself spending loads of money that night and renewing my wardrobe. Not quite so... I wasn't able to find anything else. Everything looks so old, the models are so conservative... I'm done with that period, I want to dress according to my age and to the way I feel. I gave up after an hour, which means I was extremely determined to find something. So I had to make a decision: I'll be saving some money for Spain... that means, for CLOTHES! I get all tingly inside only when thinking about it :D. I'm not sure though whether I want to imagine the look on my husband's face when he'll see the result. Eh, let's not worry about that for now :P !

She's a Maniac
(or Where Does Masochism Stop?)

Today I went to the gym; I've been doing it for a while now, but only about twice a week. With this long vacation that I have, I've decided to go 4 to 5 times a week, for two courses at a time. I looked at the schedule they had for tonight: Tae-Box and bodybuilding (no heavy machinery involved). Seemed fair enough, the first one is a bit tougher, but acceptable, while the latter is very intense, but relaxing as well. Or are they :D? I hadn't taken into account the fact that my usual instructor would be replaced by a contortionist from a different galaxy. It's true, I'd never gone to the gym on Monday. That woman killed me!!! After 40 minutes of tae-boxing I felt worse than after the two-hour Saturday workout. "Mirela, you might be going home earlier than you thought... one hour should be enough". I mean, she'd come and stand next to each of us and make us work! She'd yell at us, while offering us the cutest possible smile. Among the songs she used was Maniac. Did she think we hadn't got it? Still... the minute I had almost made up my mind to leave one hour earlier, Rhythm Is a Dancer started, followed by Ice Ice Baby. I rose from the dead... these songs just make me wanna dance! So I decided to stay for the next course as well. That one I knew was easy... wrong! Not with this crazy woman! I hate her... and I can hardly wait for January to come to let my masochistic side kick in again... I'm going back for seconds, that's for sure :D ! Too bad I have to wait for so long, since all holidays fall on a Monday. I'll just have to settle for the other instructors for a while. It's true I might not be able to move tomorrow, but it feels great... except for the stiffness in my legs, my dizziness and the pain in my other parts...

While killing myself I had to think of frustrating things that would bother me so much that I'd keep going. And I came up with another reason for hating men (maybe I should tell Eloa, as if she didn't know!): they don't have to go through such hell when visiting the gym! It's like a vacation for them... lifting a few pounds (they'd better be able to do that if they call themselves "men"!), looking at chicks and doing 50 push-ups.. hey, that's their pride, they do it to show off, anyway :D! Now this is a good reason to hate men :P.

Oh, one more thing: what in the world is a 14-year old (and I'm being generous, she might've been 12), representing 1/12 of my body size, doing at the gym and annoying the others (by "others" I mean "me", of course :P )? Shouldn't she be studying, or playing hide-and-seek or something? But she only stayed for one course, while I faced the maniac's fury twice! Who's laughing now, eh :))) ? (rhetorical question!)

Dilemma

About two months ago I bought 3 pairs of jeans that fit almost perfectly. During this time I also lost a few pounds. This morning I got dressed in a hurry, since I had been busy preparing for tonight, and only when I got to school I noticed that my pants looked awful on me. I have a question: should I gain back the weight I lost and keep wearing these jeans or should I buy some new ones?

P.S. If you believe Holidays will make me fat, think again. I'm the one cooking, and by the time I'm done I'll already be full from all the sampling :P .

How to Spend $60 on Cosmetics & Co.
(in one shot)

You go to the gym. You work out for two hours, eliminating about 2% of your energy and being amazed by the resistance you've developed. You still feel like dancing for many nights in a row, but for now you'll have to settle for waking up your neighbours at 2 a.m. while you're jumping up and down for unknown reasons (unknown to them, but you're listening to "Meneaito" in order not to fall asleep and because you'd rather be in a club at that time, not writing a bunch of essays). Good. Gym is over. You'd like to walk back home, but your boots are killing you and it's kind of freezing => take the subway. Don't forget you have to buy batteries from a store that's next to a drugstore (improperly named so, since it holds everything from chips to candles). Hey, remember the discussion you had with your friend and her friend, the esthetician, about preventing the signs of aging? The one who told you that you should start around 25, so you should be fine for the next 3 years (nice compliment, btw)? Well, this is the time to put your plan into action. Enter, take 9 different creams and go all around the store, trying to find someone who could help you make a decision. Not a man, hopefully. One man... two... three... "Do you need help?" Hmmm... should you stay or should you go? (in this case, should you scare him or be nice? Neah, pick the first one, it's more fun :D ). "Yes, could you please tell me which of these creams are more suitable for someone my age ? Also, should I get 2 or 3, considering that this one works together with that one, but the third one is intensive, so...". Hahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa! "Give me a second and I'll find someone who can answer your question." It looks like you underestimated him, he was still able to help. The lady who shows up tells you you need 5 of those creams. You look at her with the dumbest possible smile. OK, 4. You raise your eyebrow... still smiling. OKeeeeeey, let's saaaay 3, although after 30 it's better to use 4. You kick her @.. ... no, you keep on smiling and tell her that in a few years you'll buy all 4, but for now you'll only get 2. You also get some shower gel and some makeup remover. You pay for the products, plus the almost $9 tax. You go home, content about your purchase. You show them to your husband, it's just normal, right? "Why do you need all this?" ... and other similar questions. Does it matter that you actually want to answer? Uhmmm... no, not really... not when it comes to cosmetics :))).

Short version: You enter a store, pick what you (think you) need, pay and leave.

Girly Stuff

Just a thought: makeup ain't that bad!
I'm not the one to put on makeup that often: some moisturizing cream, foundation, lipstick and a hint of mascara, once in a blue moon. I find so many excuses for "avoiding" it: first of all, I'm not willing to spend half an hour or more in front of the mirror before going to school when I could be finishing off an assignment or chatting with someone. Secondly, I don't believe I do so well when it comes to painting my face, as most of the time I end up looking like a clown or a witch (if I use too much black). There are other pretty girls out there, I prefer to leave them worry about their makeup, the result is much better, anyway. Not to mention the fact that I'm married, so I don't need to worry about appealing to any of my "cool and cute" male colleagues. Or what about those rainy days, when I would run the risk of getting mascara all over my face? Neah, I'm better off without it!
Well, these ideas of mine might've changed yesterday. I don't know what came to me, but before going out to dinner I felt the urge to experiment with my eye shadow and black eyeliner, on top of the other "accessories". Hey, what the heck, I even used some blush! The result was amazing, if I may say so. The fact that it took me almost an hour to get a perfect line, with no smudges, is really not important... as the song says, with a slight alteration, "I'm only just begining". What matters is that micul was kind of impressed, I felt that he really liked my appearance (and he's a self-proclaimed "makeup hater" :P ). On top of that, I was pretty happy with the difference between "before" and "after". The bad news (for micul, of course) is that now I need to get a load of makeup supplies, as I discovered there are many eye shadow colours I want and who knows what other miraculous products I might have to get acquainted with :P .
From now on I might actually reserve "a few minutes" (close to 60, but who's counting?) for this little pleasurable ritual I've discovered.
The only thing left to fix is our digital camera; it's essential that we have a little talk... I'll do my part, but it also needs to change its view on things :P .