minus & plus

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Jared called me this morning to let me know that he had made it safely to the streets of Manhattan, where he's staying for work for a bit. The safe part is not a minus. It's the "Jared gone" & "me not in Manhattan with him" parts that get me.

+

I'm having a really hard time coming up for a plus for this that doesn't sound sarcastic, but I do have plans to stay busy & productive & watch lots of stupid Once Upon A Time & Grey's Anatomy. (I love but I hate but I love.)

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SUNBURN. I made it all the way to the end of the beach vacation & on the laaaast day out on the beach (which, honestly, only 3 days were swimsuit weather), my back was TOASTED. Like, sunburn pain woke me up on Monday morning. Tragic, because I didn't really even want to get tan this summer, much less sun burned. I am so, so sorry, skin.

+

Coconut oil is doing wonders in the soothing department, & the burn should become the hint of color that I needed to look slightly more alive for the rest of the summer. This being the first summer that I'm not working outdoors at events all year, I feel especially protective of my skin. Now, please remember that my resident back scratcher/aloe applier is not in the same state/apartment as me, so if you imagining me slapping coconut oil across my back one hand at a time in a sad attempt to soothe my sunburn really takes this home as a plus for you, then go right ahead. I am sure it is quite the sight.

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Returning to a regular hair routine after a week of beach hair love. My mane loves the salty air, that's for sure. (Bonus fact: the beach air also does wonders for golden doodle hair)

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I've been working on some new updos for those (many) (... many) days that I don't want to wake up early enough to style it. It's keeping my interest in having long hair peaked, which is always good, since the other option is shorter hair aka looking like a 13 year old.

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After a month of trying to cut meat & dairy out of my diet & feeling like I just compensated with carbs, I'm more annoyed than ever with my stomach issues & general lack of motivation to care about food. I so wish I could be that person that loves exercise & vitamins & healthy foods, buuuuuuut... It's real REAL difficult for me.

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I'm hopping aboard the Whole30 train, which isn't too far off from the dietary restrictions I followed last year when I was getting ready for bridesmaid season. I'd love for this to be the beginning of a lifelong romance with whole foods but I'm not going to plan the wedding before the first date, NAH MEAN?

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Knowing far too much about our upstairs neighbor's night life to be able to face him in the stairwell, making mornings awkward since we both leave the apartment at the exact same time.

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I have perfected the art of waiting for him to walk across the family room, forget something in the kitchen, then finally walk to the front door to leave. Does this make me the most socially awkward person ever? I don't care. Neighbor, if you're reading this, I'm sure you're a very nice person but you need a new bed.

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Parallel parking. OR RATHER, living on a street where we & our neighbors all know how to parallel park, but then there's the YMCA & restaurant patrons that take up three spaces with one foul swoop of their giant SUV parked 3 ft. away from the curb.

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After nearly two years of living on this street, we have both developed our parallel parking skills to elite levels. I suppose it helps that we have small cars but... If parallel parking were an Olympic sport, we'd take... Well, bronze, probably. & maybe only if it were on a local level, BUT STILL.

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Not knowing how to make coffee when the resident coffee maker is out of town.

+

Testing my caffeine addiction by abstaining & actually living to tell the tale. I've had a couple of mild headaches in the afternoons, but it's also been raining for two days straight, which could also be the culprit. Tomorrow marks Day 3, so if you see me & I try to bite you, please know that it's not you, it's coffee.