But when they're parking their cars on your chest You've still got a view of the summer sky

There's ups and there are downs. Wednesday was a pretty nice up since everyone at our work got incentive comp checks! I am not going to brag too much, but it was almost like having two checks this week. I sat around thinking of what to do with it, put it in the savings, buy a new mattress, pay off some bills....whatever! We also were told that the whole company is going to be put under evaluation, and therefore, an estimate is going to be done on salaries, which hopefully means that we will all get raises (finally!) It probably wont even happen until next year but it is good to know that something is going to happen, and, next year is coming pretty close!

Then I learned yesterday morning that the sellers did not accept our offer on the house. They didn't even make a counter-offer! Kyle and I talked about it, over the past eight months we have looked at over 40 houses, and put offers on four. We have spend countless hours online looking at houses, driving past them to get a better idea, and then we found a great one, but no, they don't accept our offer. We decided to just pay the asking price, but then we got a call from our lender, and we no longer qualify for our loan because the terms changed over the past two weeks. Our credit scores are too low. So now we can't get that house or any house. I cried about six times today because I wanted that house so bad, and then everything came at me at once: Why didn't I do better in high school and qualify for scholarships? Then I wouldn't have charged three plus years of school on my credit cards when I was at community college. I have knocked some of my debt down and I have not used my credit cards in over a year, but now I have all of Oakland to pay off when I graduate. Our Realtor is going to contact another company for us to see if we can get a loan through them, either that or we wait two months to see if our credit scores go up, we are only a few points away. I am hoping if we have to wait two months, that the house won't sell, but I doubt it. All I can do is wait and see, and that really sucks. 

I know that today will be better, for one, it's Friday and I am only working a half-day. Two, my friend Suzzie is staying over tonight and we are going to have a study party, chez-moi. Three, I am babysitting Trip again so I get to squeeze another puppy! And Four, Halloween is this weekend! I tried to look for an outfit today at Forever 21, but I am not sure on what to wear still. I did get a Weezer T-shirt from Hot topic! (yay birthday money!)

Details
Shirt-Gift from Lauren
Skirt-Lauren via Here to There
Belt & Scarf-Target
Shoes-Second Skin's Etsy
Tights-CVS
Necklace-F21

Song "Know your Onion!" By The Shins

It's not a habit it's cool I feel alive

Over the past Spring and Summer and well into the Fall I have become a serious NPR addict. I don't know if it's my lack of world news & local news combined or my frustration with the bland alternative rock and pop music that gets over played , but something drove me to tuning into NPR on the way to and from work and school the past nine months. One of my favorite features is the Moth story slam that happens every month in different cities. I know that I don't have the time to attend a Moth story slam session anytime soon, but they hold one in Detroit at Cliff Bells every month! Cliff Bells is a really nice bar in Detroit that has been recently updated (2005),  but still holds a lot of the classical jazz-bar elements from when it was originally built in 1935. I don't hangout there regularly, as it is kind-of on the fancy side at night, but I have stopped in for an occasional PBR after work. Either way, I can live vicariously through the recorded Moth stories aired on the radio.

These pictures were taken by my friend Becky! As always, I don't really know what to do pose-wise when getting my picture taken (you'd think after a year of this I'd figure it out by now). Either way, this is another cozy-study outfit. A little more "dressy" than the slacks from the other day because I also wore this to my parents for my birthday dinner. I think I like rompers more with tights than on their own, or maybe it's just all the sweets I've been eating in the past week that have made me feel a little chubby... but that's what birthdays are for right? :p

Roots!! I love how excited I am that my roots are showing. It's kind-of hard to tell, but my natural hair color is some sort of dirty blonde. I have no idea if it is going to come out the same as it was when I was little, I'd imagine that as I get older it will probably change a little. It has a long way to go still but I am excited. I am still at a loss on what to do with my hair for my Halloween costume, I am going as one of the pussycats, I'm Valerie! It made more sense when my hair was black, but I friggin love Rosario Dawson and even though I can't seem to find anything in my wardrobe that looks like anything she is wearing in the movie, well, at least I get to come up with something that is inspired by her.

Details
Romper-Gift
Tights-CVS
Shoes-Payless
Necklace-Grandmothers

Song "Not an Addict" by K's Choice

Life in cartoon motion

Some of  you guys already noticed, but if you didn't, take a gander at my new header! It was customized by the lovely and awesome Meg of Bowties are cool. She even made me wearing plaid! I love it because it is something that someone created on their own, I am amazed everyday at what my fellow bloggers (and "real" friends) are capable of. Lauren organized and fixed by blog  for me a few weeks ago, and it looks lovely because she is an html genius. With the help of these two ladies, my blog is looking a ton better these days. I am still tinkering around, I have to update my blogroll...and I am thinking of correcting some of my old posts, some clean up going on :)

If you like this header, you can also check out Meg's blog, and her portraits page to inquire about one for yourself, she is really sweet and awesome and has a few examples ready, but as you can see she is open for ideas. She even incorporated the font that Lauren made for me, which is awesome. I love this font, it is totally nerdy of me to say that, lol but I wish I could use this font at work without getting crap for it.

Anywho, I am looking at squeezing in a lot at work today because we have a meeting (supposed to be a good one, though). I also have some really cool new things to show you lovelies once I get my camera back (it's on loan to my talented photographer friend Becky, and I can't wait to see the pictures she took :D) Sorry for such a short post, but more to come later!

Hopefull Homestead

Weekends are meant for relaxing right? Hrmmm...I must have missed that memo. Friday night consisted of me driving up to the school to camp out in OU center from 6pm to 12am working on an essay, and munching on a bagel. Oh and by the way, it is a ghost town at the school on Friday nights, who wants to hangout at a school on a Friday?? Either way, Saturday and Sunday consisted of more of the same, lots of studying and paper-writing. Saturday morning Kyle and I did look at houses again in Ferndale and found nothing. The ones that were in our price range were falling apart, and we didn't get to see half of the ones we wanted because they had accepted offers on them. Le sigh. We did however find an awesome one in Oak Park! Oak Park is right next to Ferndale, (about two miles from where I currently live in Royal Oak). The house is right next to a park that I played soccer in many times as a kid and it's right down the street from my friend Becky! We are putting an offer on it today, and I really hope that they accept it because A) This house is in the best condition over any of the other houses, and B) I am so tired of looking for a house. I guess I am more tired of being deceived by pictures of houses online, they look fine but when you get inside there is water damage or the roof is caving. Just not stuff we can afford to fix. I want to talk more about the house but I want to make sure we get it first, I am so excited!! I drove my Dad past it for approval and everything, lol, you know how parents are.

I have been wearing some form of this outfit a lot lately, T-shirt, comfy slacks and my jacket. These pants feel just as roomy as sweats but look a little more structured than sweats and added bonus. Pockets! A good outfit for just sitting around on my butt studying. Kyle and I also checked out the Hilton Road Cafe in Ferndale and had some yummy omelets, the place was so cute! There were little fake chickens everywhere, and the place only holds about 18 people. My brother works down the street from the place and said it was great so we finally went it, and yep, we will be back. Saturday night Kyle and I watched "The Shinning" and I forgot how creepy it can be, but I love it. I will take movies like "The Shinning" and "Rosemary's Baby" over the slasher flicks any day.

Kyle and I might have had a lot of fun with the leaves Saturday.... Louie was inside barking at us like we were crazy. One thing I never will grow out of, jumping around in leaves. We actually did this before we left for lunch and my car has bits of leaves in it now :P

Anyway, this week looks a little less stressful, I do have to catch up on everything else, reading, cleaning, buying some food for the fridge...and hopefully we will have an accepted offer too :)

~Toodles!

Details
Jacket, pants & shoes-Thrifted
T-shirt-Hottopic

Halloween Inspiration

I mentioned the other day that I decorated the apartment for Halloween, I thought I'd share some pics of the festiveness. 

I got this adorable card in the mail from Ralph! One of the most thoughtful and kindest bloggers out there :)

I love Halloween! It is one of my favorite holidays, I think mostly because it is so close to my birthday. I have always had Halloween parties for birthday parties when I was little (okay, for the two parties I had, they were Halloween). I have went as a variety of different things over the years, some of the most notable were the mouse costume, a princess, a 1960's flight attendant, a Mc Donalds employee....too bad I was one for so long in real life :P This year my friends Jamie, Suzzie and I are going as Josie and the Pussycats! We are going to be more modern, like from the 2001 movie (awesome movie!!) Some inspiration:

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Twenty-five the season off dope

Why do I love October? All of the birthdays! Including mine :) yep, today I am another year older. I was going to make you guys take a guess at how old I am, but I have had my birth-date posted on my Google profile the entire time I have had this blog. I am 25 today! I have accepted it, I don't really feel old or anything right now. Plus, one of the girls in my American Lit class thought I was 19 so that always helps :P

It it also my friend Suzzie's birthday today! We are birthday twins! My plans for today? Get through the work day, meet with my professor for 20 minutes, finish up some homework and then hopefully watch a movie with Kyle. I feel bad, he took the night off so he could spend my birthday with me, but then I wind up having all this homework to do. We didn't get to really celebrate anyone's birthday this month, so when we all get together on the 30th, we will have to pick up a cake or something. My Mom is also going to make me dinner on Sunday! Can you get that I think the best kind of presents are edible ones?

 

I was at work when these pics were taken, I had to bug my boss to take them. I felt pretty sick yesterday, and you can tell by my facial expression. Adam likes playing around with the camera so I might take some pics at work more often,  it just gets a little awkward when all the trucks are coming in and out. One of these days I will have to take some pics of the rest of the building I work at, it's pretty interesting. One of my co-workers, Mark, is celebrating his birthday this week too, so we are going to get a pizza on Friday :D

It's also my blog's birthday this month, so happy birthday blog!

~Toodles!

Details:

Dress-Modcloth

Sacrf-Thrifted

Tights-Payless

Boots-Sears

Song: "15" by Rilo Kiley