Me & Trisha, circa 1992
Me & Trisha, circa 2007
Fifteen years later, we’re still awesome.
HAPPY 30th Birthday, Trisha! I’m so lucky to have one of my oldest, dearest friends in the same town with me – wishing you nothing but amazing times ahead full of love, laughter, and a damn good Vodka + Soda…
xo!!
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I had wanted to post this a while back but kept forgetting. Anyhoo. Better late than never.
I flew home early from BlogHer (again, something I *STILL* need to post about…it’s coming, really!) and made it in time for the Laughing Squid Paradise Lost party. Fabutastic, I tell ya, and nothing nearly as awesome as our little foray in the Photoboof.
I have the middle one posted on my wall at work (it raises a few eyebrows, fo’ shizz) but the whole thing makes me smile so much I don’t care.
I ❤ my lady friends…
My dad loved photography. Actually, I don’t know why I’m posting this in the past tense; Ed Sabala is alive and well in Baltimore, MD and still loves taking photos. I just don’t think his subjects today are nearly as exciting or compelling as his subjects twenty or thirty years ago; namely, me.
In lieu of a lot of posts this week (I’m slammed), I figured highlighting some pics of years past could give y’all something to talk/laugh/gossip about. To answer your questions:
– Yes. My hair was darker when I was little. As you’ll see in forthcoming posts, it gets blonder by the years. Does that make me a natural blonde? I think so, I just wasn’t your typical towhead baby. More of an auburn-head.
– Yes. My legs really were that chunky. We call that ‘healthy’ in Ohio.
– Yes. My mom was/is a hottie. No inappropriate comments, please, but yes, she’s single…in case anyone has an eligible single Dad. I’m just sayin’…stranger things have happened.
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Daisy and I took Lila Belle to the Giants game on Saturday – was the first in what ended up being a LONNNGGGG fun day. Gotta love a city that is so pet-friendly that even our four-legged friends get to enjoy a tasty chilled beverage** at a Baseball game!
** And by “chilled beverage”, I was referring to the SPCA volunteers that made sure the dogs had enough water, not the spilled beer that Lila actually preferred as her beverage of choice.
I must admit, I didn’t have high hopes for the evening.
Yes, I was excited to catch up with my friend Ryan (something long
overdue) but I knew, given my attitude and the stuff that’s been
happening around me causing nearly perpetual stress, that our drinks
(and my mini-dinner) would include gripes and complaints. We even had a
"let’s think of all the positive things that are happening"
conversation to get us out of our funks. Or maybe just my funk.
Whatever. Either way, it worked, and after two poppy jaspers I was
walking home with a new outlook on all of the things that sucked.
I
checked my text messages en route to my comfy new bed (courtesy of my
budget-breaking new Serta memory foam topper that I must admit I’m kind
of in love with) and saw that HelenJane (YES! THAT HELENJANE! MY FAVE
LADY!) was seeing Colin Hay live. While I was jealous – and bummed that
I hadn’t planned to meet up with her earlier – neither did I have the
energy to trek across town to join ’em at Red Devil Lounge, where I
thought he was playing. And then I looked up. The sign at "The
Independent", directly in front of me and a block from my house, read:
"Thurs – Colin Hay". OMG! HelenJane and her delectable hubby James were
right there inside! So, with a little batting of the eyelashes to the
bouncer (I can’t take all the credit; the concert was about over) he
let me in for free and alas, I looked right up front and there they
were! HelenJane and James and their cute friend Kevin RIGHT UP FRONT!
And – to add to my excitement – Colin Hay was just finishing one of my
favorite songs!
Elation ensued. Tasty light beers were procured.
Colin Hay – and his "interpretive dancer" wife (we assume – he called
her "his queen" and seriously, I’ve never seen a more amusing imaginary
lute-player/whirling dervish in my entire existence. Not that they’re
that common, but…you get my point. Colin then made my week – hell, my
month – by launching into one of my all-time favorite songs, "Waiting
for my Real Life To Begin" which I got to hear (and record!) standing
next to some of my favorite people on earth. Hello, awesome evening,
now awesomer!
I didn’t think the evening could get any better, and
then we headed out to my abode for a nightcap (read: The 30th
Anniversary Grgich Hills wine that I had opened to treat myself) and I
had my first visitors to view the redecoration! The only thing that
would have made the night even more perfect was an impromptu sleepover;
but alas, we’ll have to save that for another time. (My masterful
DayBed skillz were complimented, however. YAY crafts(wo)man me!)
And so I went to bed with a smile on my face, something that hasn’t happened in a long time.
And today’s Friday.
And it was sunny when I woke up this morning.
Could things be looking up? Methinks – mehopes – perhaps.
—————-
Now playing: Ryan Adams – The Sun Also Sets
via FoxyTunes
The budget, ’tis shot. And by ‘shot’ I mean one of those drive-by shootings where one praises the Lord that they went out for a gallon of milk only to return home and find every one of their walls riddled with gunshot holes. Except The Budget didn’t go out for that gallon of milk; no, it’s the victim first removed from the crime scene, covered by two separate sheets due to the nature of its fatal injuries.
RIP, Budget. You were good while you lasted.
Though instead of a proper moratorium for The Budget (TMD), I believe a rebranding might need to be in order. Yes, a recategorization of the month commonly known as August. Instead of that common moniker, or perchance, The Budget (TMD-RIP), I believe we shall call this month "The Month in which Aubrey Spends Money and Records It All (So That She’ll Never Spend it in a Similar Fashion Again)". Not one to project the blame onto others, I must say that within the first five days of the month, the following unusual events occurred:
I’m not even going to go into the experience that was Ikea (should that be "The Experience That Was Ikea"? Yes. It actually should.) since I don’t think I have enough Xanax to relive those two days (totaling six hours) of my life. Suffice it to say my 0% interest Citibank card took a beating and while I do love my new house (three Ikea assembly finger/foot casualties notwithstanding) I had prepared for one amount and left with a separate amount entirely, roughly double of the original amount. I never thought I’d be that person who got duped with the ".99" used to make things seem less, but alas, I hang my head in shame for this one.
So moving forward. I’m extremely cognizant of my spending (and really AM doing things like bringing my lunch and getting gas at the super cheap place by my house and bypassing Sugar-Free Fat-Free Iced Hazelnut Lattes for chilled tap water,) and while I won’t play the victim (WAAH WAAH! These items were out of my control – no, silly, you budget for the unexpected…even I, Aubrey of ‘Math is Hard’ fame, knows that) I will say that it was unfortunate that the first month that I took on the rent by myself also included a few of these unexpected expenses, not to mention my over-zealousness in paying off my credit cards. (Hey, could be worse – I could be overzealous in other, more expensive and likely illegal arenas, I suppose. Sigh. Midwestern upbringing to the prudish rescue.) Like all good celebs who go to rehab when they ‘mess up’ yet again, I choose to use this as a learning experience and find a way of rebranding. Because, after ‘The Month in which Aubrey Spends Money and Records It All (So That She’ll Never Spend it in a Similar Fashion Again)’ happens, the TRUE budget will begin.
And, golly gee, I just can’t wait for September. I know you, too, are waiting with bated breath.
Am I the only one that often *hates* being a grown-up??
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Lila rarely sits still enough for me to capture her ebullient essence, but she was actually a bit sedate this weekend (probably due to the fact that she had not one, but TWO, foxtails in her poor little right paw, the removal of which absolutely killed my budget). Still, here’s Lila, in all her puppy glory.
Daisy recently conducted an experiment which she entitled The Budget. (I want to add a TMD, for "Trademark Daisy", since she deserves a TMD on many of the things in my life; namely, DayDrinking(TM), Nokay(TM) and a few others I shant mention here. Anyhoo.) Daisy realized that it was due time to start keeping track of her purchases and live frugally (thanks to her fabulous student loans and her predilection for socializing which, obvi, I share). While she ended hers early, I was inspired by her dedication to The Budget(TMD) so much that I’m doing the same thing for August. Only I won’t give you a daily rundown of my finances because, as she can attest, people weren’t lovin’ that. (Though seriously, if you’d like an export of my awesome Excel spreadsheet, replete with pivot tables and custom filtering, just let me know. It rocks your rocks off).
So, today is day one on The Budget. So far, so good. Total spent: $10 on lunch, but that was pre-planned so I opted for water with lemon instead of over-priced and potentially carcinogenic soft drinks. $10 with tip, not so bad. I also went to the grocery store to prepare for The Budget (since I’m confident that the findings will show I spend most of my $$ on food/drink/household items. Wait and see if I’m clairvoyant). $110 last night doesn’t actually count in The Budget (since it was July, after all) but let’s just throw that in there as a forethought for this whole crazy experiment.
Since I tend to take things to the extreme (what? Me? Never…) I also decided that while I was keeping track of my spending, I may as well keep track of my food & drink consumption to further emphasize the imbalance of my life. So far: yogurt (from home) for breakfast; Clay Pot seafood rice for lunch (thus $10 with tip) and a few jelly beans (thanks, Easter candy). Really, I’m sure you’re captivated by the mundaneness of my life.
So here I go. Wish me luck because, come month’s end, I have a feeling that I’ll need some sort of pick-me-up after finding out that not only am I an epicurian oenophile, I’m also a BROKE epicurian oenophile.
Originally posted on aubs.vox.com
Though it sounds like a personal ad, it’s instead a valid frustration that we’re finding to be a common problem. If it IS so common, why hasn’t anyone come up with an easy, automated solution to fix it? Manual de-duping in iTunes (view > Show Duplicates) isn’t appropriate for 100+ GBs. If you build it, and build it right, they will come – and pay!
Though it sounds like a personal ad, it’s instead a valid frustration that we’re finding to be a common problem. If it IS so common, why hasn’t anyone come up with an easy, automated solution to fix it? Manual de-duping in iTunes (view > Show Duplicates) isn’t appropriate for 100+ GBs. If you build it, and build it right, they will come – and pay!
AubreySabala.com 