The Ankle Biter @ Quibbling.net

In the process of replacing my beloved-but-befouled black Skechers Step Up Mary Janes, I ran across these sneakers and have ordered them in black. Because, ZOMG, SO CUTE. How do you not love the little dragons? Especially when my Amazon Prime membership gives me free two-day shipping?!

Incidentally, Amazon no longer sells the shoes I was actually looking for directly, and none of their third-party sellers could get them to me fast enough, so I still have to hit the Skechers store in Tysons this week to get shoes for work. Of course, I do have at least one client (and probably more) who would think the dragon sneakers are excellent shoes for the office.

Who am I to argue with a client who does that much business with me?

Also, the last pair of sneakers I bought in that sort of skateboard-y style, while tres cute, were actually terrible in the arch support department, most likely because they were CHEAP AS HELL. If I spent more than an hour walking around in them, I would soon be whimpering in pain because they had no shock absorption whatsoever. I am hopeful that these will be better. Seriously, I’ve walked all over town in my mary janes with minimal discomfort, so I hope that bodes well for the quality of the sneaker experience. Many women have long sought the magical combination of cute AND comfortable, so I’ll be sure to report back with my findings.

I also recognize that my taste in shoes tends to run to the more “cute” than “elegant” or “professional” and that as such, they might not be suitable for everyone. But you see, this has more to do with the fact that I am sort of short and cherubic-looking. Some would even say I resemble a Keebler elf. So you see, “elegant” is not a look that works for me. I look like I’m playing dressup in my mommy’s power suits. So I have to find ways to make “cute” work for me in a workplace environment. I’m getting better at it, I think. It’s 50% clothing choice, and 50% workplace/field choice.

Posted in My Mind is a Scary Place, Sharing Violations, Villainy | 1 Comment »

Jack Bridge’s Christmas Adventure

Wednesday, December 27th, 2006

We have returned, safe and sound, from our Christmas trip to my ancestral homeland. We had a nice visit with my family and enjoyed some serious Christmas Coma.

I love Christmas Coma. It’s that delightful feeling you get after Christmas dinner when you can nod off to sleep without any part of your brain saying, “You know, you should get up and do laundry/clean the house/pay the bills/whatever.”

Not that my family makes that hard. Any holiday gathering is marked by enough food to feed a small army, and my grandmother’s fretting that people aren’t eating enough and there’s going to be too much left over for my grandfather and her to finish. Not that it isn’t delicious, of course, it’s just that there’s a metric buttload of food. (Not to be confused with the imperial buttload.) It’s especially relaxing now that my younger cousins are old enough to not be all wound up and yelling on Christmas morning. Not that I wasn’t fond of them during the commotion phase, but now that they’re a little older and feel like they have to play it cool, they’re more fun to be around.

We did have one mishap on the way up, but what holiday would be complete without a ridiculous story to tell? Tom and I had decided to leave after Christmas Eve church services. We wanted to take Jack with us, so we headed back to the house to load up the car and get the cat. We tried putting him in the cat carrier but he Would. Not. Go. He fought, he howled, he struggled. Maybe it’s that every time we put him in the carrier, he gets stuck with needles, I don’t know. Finally we decided that he’d probably be fine in my lap for the ride and we took him, still struggling and terrified to the car and I held him and tried to comfort him as we got under way. (Some grossness to follow behind the jump.) (more…)

Posted in Villainy, Catblogging | 3 Comments »

links for 2006-12-23

Saturday, December 23rd, 2006

Why “Motivation by Pizza” Doesn’t Work

I can think of a few companies who could stand to learn this

(tags: motivation mpoj workplace psychology)

Posted in General | No Comments »

games, games, games, games. GAMES!

Thursday, December 21st, 2006

I’ve got a New Kids on the Block song stuck in my head and it Won’t. Go. Away.

Oh, the humanity.

Posted in My Mind is a Scary Place | 4 Comments »

“how’s married life treating you?” Christmas Edition

Wednesday, December 20th, 2006

Although Tom and I have spent at least some part of all of our Christmases as a couple together, this will be our first Christmas together as a married couple, which more importantly means this is the first Christmas on a shared checking account. Which sort of throws a wrench into the whole thing.

Things I would otherwise think of getting him- prepaid WoW cards and such- are kind of lame now. “Wow, you bought me two months of World of Warcraft! With the money I would have used to buy two months of World of Warcraft!”

Meanwhile, if I want to spoil him with something a little more extravagant that he might not have thought to buy for himself, I feel like I have to clear the expenditure with him so we know where our money is going. “Honey, is it okay if I spend $300? What for? Well, I want to get blah-blah-blah for you for Christmas. …D’oh!”

Not that I’m complaining. It’s going to be a very merry Christmas, and I think I’ve managed to come up with a surprise or two… And other people manage to figure this stuff out. I’m sure we will too.