Well, I guess we're off to the old factory. I hate that place.

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Go Gators! Beat Kentucky!

I miss the heck out of the girls when they're at Dave's for the Thurs-Sun night stretch. Yeah, after a weekend when it's been all Lord of the Flies around here, I'm happy when Thursday comes and I know I have a night off, but I already miss them on Friday night :)

I'm not really focused today, so it's just going to be a couple links. I tried to find a good video of the Gator Chomp for y'all, and especially for Erica, whose heart will be broken as she cheers for the Wildcats today, but they're all grainy and wobbly.

Oh - and hey - remember all my posts about The Smell? Well, I smelled it Thursday night and yesterday I got a migraine! I'm super excited because there's a documented connection between them and I have a term: olfactory aura. I need to start keeping better track, because I do get migraines, I do smell The Smell, and there's usually a somewhat cyclical element to it. But yay to a possible explanation! I totally couldn't afford / didn't have time for some of the scarier reasons for the not-really-there smell.

And now for something completely different ...

If you're in the Austin area, and looking for work, there's a career fair coming up at Amplify Credit Union the week of October 5th. We've got the usual 10 classes, with some great new speakers lined up, and two bonus classes this go 'round.

Here's a link to the class descriptions and the RSVP: http://octobercareerclasses.eventbrite.com/ You'll definitely want to RSVP for these as seating is limited.

Here's a link to the Career Fair RSVP: http://octobercareerfair.eventbrite.com/ For this, an RSVP is less necessary, and you can sign in when you arrive. If there are specific industries you're looking for, leave me a comment this weekend, as I'll be calling around to fill up the final 4-5 booths on Monday. The cool thing about the career fair is that the companies and recruiters in attendance have to be actively hiring and not just collecting resumes.

(The linkies have maps / address / times / dates of the classes and career fair, as well)

The fabulous Camille is doing a Giving Tree giveaway over at her blog. It's been so long since I've read that book ... I'm headed to the library this a.m. to see if I can grab a copy for Monday night's story time. It's no light anatomy & physiology read, I'm sure, but hopefully Bean will approve even without SEM pics of macrophages. At least she loves trees.

Anyone doing anything super fun this weekend? I'm headed to a Cystic Fibrosis Fundraiser and Auction over at Vino100 this afternoon. Until then, I'll be cleaning up a weeks' worth of the Destructo Girls' work.
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I'm the chosen one. And I choose to be shopping.

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As much as I miss my kids during these weekends, I love having every other weekend off. I can do so much stuff I could never do with them, host wine nights for my friends and stay up way too late watching documentaries about oceans and the geology of the earth. I know, stop. It's overwhelming to y'all when I'm This Cool, but bear with me.

Friday night I got to see all the moms from the playgroup I used to belong to in my SAHM days. It was great to see everyone again, and fun having wine and running our mouths for a few hours. I hope everyone was able to pass of the morning stuff to the hubbies after such a late night :)

Today, after a late start, I hit a couple Goodwill's to looks for clothes/toys/books for the kids. I also scored a pair of Banana Republic pants and a pair of Gap pants for myself.

I found fab books for the girls. Including a couple "My Little Pony" early reader books that Bean will crap kittens over.

My best score was spending about $20 on 6 dresses for the girls, including dresses from Ralph Lauren, Lilly Pullitzer, Laura Ashley and Sweet Heart Rose. These all would have retailed above $20 each, some well above $20, so not bad. I just love getting cool fabrics and solid construction that will stand up to being a play dress, all dirt cheap.

There actually was some big old barn/garage play thingie for $4 at my local GW that I resisted buying, simply because they don't need it. I scored a great Fisher Price barn there for $2 a couple weeks back so, technically, they're set.

I've realized that thrifting is kind of an obsession of mine. I started doing it *way* back in the day, when I was like 15 or 16, and dressing completely differently. So I'd look for cool mens' button-down shirts and jackets (think chunky punk, and that was me). I'd go with my then-BFF, Ashley, and we'd scour the thrift shops downtown. Hell, we may have started before we reached driving age, and taken the bus.

Ashley, if you read this, I actually dreamt that you and I were on the phone, talking about the good old thrifting days, and also about how we'd like to try to plan to meet up some time. So if you get some random nostalgic Sarasota thrifting email from me, that's why :)

I hit a Goowill that someone referred to as Sak's 5th Goodwill, way down (way down to me, at least) on Lake Austin Blvd. I did score the Lilly Pullitzer and Sweet Heart Rose dresses there, but the store was so cramped and chaotic that I didn't enjoy shopping there. No Goodwill, that I've seen, at least, is really good about sorting and sizing their clothes - it's usually something like "black tank tops" as a category, so you have to sort through the entire thing to see if any are in your size. But my local one, at least, has bottoms sectioned into types and sizes, so you don't feel like you have to go through 30 feet of stuff, just your section.

Maybe I should hire myself to Goodwill as a merchandiser for all the local stores ...
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