Global Matters

I love thinking about different places around the world. I have never been too far, not even across the sea, although I have been to a lot of places around the U.S. which if you look at a map is still a lot of miles in theory. I love reading books about travel adventures and imagining the landscapes. I love seeing photos of ordinary things from other places, like food, or exterior siding on a house and a neighborhood and seeing if it is all the same or different around the world. I get this feeling of joy and universalism and one-ness. For this reason I am grateful at my job I can read and see pictures from blogs all over the entire world, from Poland to Malaysia to Peru. I love it. As a matter of fact it is one of the only things I like about my job lately.

When I get my own office at home one of the first things I am going to buy is a globe so I can twirl it around and look at the places I have read about and wonder about.

What am I wishing for right now?

I am not exactly wishing for any product or material thing. I wish, that I didn't always feel so much anxiety about the time I have. I walk around in the morning feeling hurried and too busy for my own comfort level. I hate it! I need to allow enough time and trust that I have time for my plans.

Also, I wish I liked going to the gym more!

Hair Products

I would really like to be able to afford nice hair products. Right now I use alberto V05 products because they are very cheap, do a pretty good job and one of the only ones sold at the supermarket that don't test on animals. However, I have not been happy with my hair lately and I think it used to be more manageable when I could afford highlights and cuts more often, and used nicer products. If I had the money right now I would buy one of the really expensive hair straightening irons that don't do a lot of damage to the hair, and I would lay out money for really nice shampoo and conditioner. Sorry V05!

This is what I think I would get:
A list of nice (and more expensive) hair straighteners
A better review of hair straighteners
Probably I would get this one, the gHD Hair straightener, because it received the most votes with an A+ score.

Here is a picture of it:


Next, I would get good shampoo and conditioner. Maybe I would get some other products. I use to love Bumble & Bumble Thickening Products. They are cruelty-free, but not vegan.

Here is a great thread for vegetarian shampoos and conditioners.

Bridget Marquardt

You probably do not know who that is right? Well, a lot of times while I am trying to fall asleep at night I will leave on "The Girls Next Door' cause it is fairly innocuous and I won't have to be startled awake by gunshots or an autopsy on CSI or something (which has happened before and isn't that pleasant!). So anyway, I have started to decide that I would really like to be more like one of the girls on the show, Bridget. She is always so sweet and innocent seeming. Okay, okay, so she poses nude and that is very immoral to some, so maybe 'innocent' was the wrong choice of words. But she seems so genuinely happy and sincere all the time (whatever the opposite of cynical would be). Plus, apparently she is currently working on her second Masters degree! I guess there is no judging a book by their cover, and I admit I am guilty of thinking these girls probably do not have advanced degrees. So she is smart and seems genuinely, nice. Okay if not a little ditzy, but she apparently is smart and what I wish I had more of was her personality. She always seems nice and unassuming.

Pain in the neck!

Today what I want is for my neck to stop being sore! I don't know if I slept on it wrong or from lifting weights after I skipped 2 weeks at the gym, but it is killer! Maybe my neck hurts also from sitting at a desk all day long! I don't know but I wish it would just go away! I have a bit of a headache also. In fact, I was going to see my general care doctor but decided to wait a few more days. I am going to use my parents' massage chair after work and then lay down with a heating pad for a while. I checked at this online medical site and a couple of things helped me to relax. First, I don't have any trouble moving it to any side, in fact stretching it helps a bit. Plus it says to wait a few days and treat with pain reliever and cold/hot compresses. Uh oh, guess this might mean I have to skip the gym tommorrow? How sad!

Flylady Supplies

I recently joined Flylady.net, as a way of helping me gain control of my life and household.

Well there are so many things from their Flylady Shop that I want! I am tempted to spend a lot of money on the stuff but even the Flylady herself I think, would caution me to get my spending under control first before I buy a lot of new self-help tools!

Here is what I want though, for the record:

- the Office in a Bag- with compartments for everything!
- Car Duster - actually what I really want is a cordless mini-vac for my car.
- FlyLady calendar - this was the first thing I wanted because I love calendars and marking things on them, for some reason. Of course it would not be complete without the calendar stickers that go with it.

So maybe if there is anyone secretly reading this, who knows me in real life, they will know what to get for my birthday this year! Hah, knowing me I will probably already buy all this stuff by then (July).

Treadmill

I have been using my room mate's treadmill just about every morning for a while now but when she moves out she is taking it with her. A close relative of mine has offered to buy me my own treadmill as long as it costs under $400. I have gone to Sports Authority and Dick's Sporting Goods to see if they still have the same one that I have been using but they don't have it anymore! I don't know what I will do! The reason I really like the one I have been using in particular is because first, it folds up so you don't have to have this big monstrosity taking up your whole living room all the time and most importantly, it has arm rails so you can swing your arms while you walk or jog. Kind of like an elliptical machine has the arm sticks, thats what this treadmill has. I haven't been able to even find a similar model at any of the stores near me. This is basically what it looks like:


So maybe this is actually who makes it also because the name, Proform, sounds familiar. I am not sure if this is the exact model because in the review of this Proform Crosswalk it says there is no fan and mine definetly has a fan. Maybe I have the next model up or something. This sucks because on the website I couldn't find the model. I guess I have to check at home for the exact one my room mate has. I don't feel like paying $125 for shipping either, so I don't know where else to look besides Sports Authority or Dicks. Sigh. Nothing comes simple in life. Maybe I will just buy the treadmill off my room mate and she can get a new one. My last problem will be getting it upstairs and into the spare bedroom!