The New England Society for Tea Fetishism

The daily grind makes the days go by too fast. Up at five, home at five-thirty, pass out by nine - it's pretty freakin' monotonous (but leaps and bounds better than being unemployed). I'm lucky I get to work with fun people who don't take themselves or the job too seriously. Not that we're tossing files willy-nilly and hiding appointments from patients (although some of the more prickly patients seem to think this is how we run things), but it's nice to be able to joke around in between providing people with fantastic customer service. Or during. Some people appreciate a little levity. Others want to melt your face off with lazers out their eyeballs. Que sera sera.

Another thing I really like about this job: the commute. One would think that a half-hour on the subway and a half-hour on the commuter rail twice a day would be a pain in the ass. One would be correct, but only some of the time. Taking the bus every day on Long Island really desensitized me against the horrors (mostly smells) of public transportation. What I like is that I get to read. I'm going through books so fast I'm re-reading books I already own in between trips to the store. I should probably start going to the library again. I just picked up the new Michael Chabon and I'm really looking forward to starting it.

Pitfalls of the job - lots of places to eat nearby. Starbucks, Boloco, a galleria, several hospitals with good cafeterias, all within walking distance. I try to be good and eat out only once a week, but I'm in love with the Summer Burrito at Boloco. We're getting married next spring. To avoid Starbucks I'm considering buying a stovetop capuccino maker. It's sixty dollars at Bed Bath and Beyond. I'm sure that it will pay for itself in no time, but I have a hard time parting with that much money for an item that performs one very specific task (any Good Eats viewers out there? You know what I'm talking about). Still, maybe the fact that I dreamed about it tells me I should suck it up and buy the damned thing.

Which brings me to pitfall the second: I have money now - more money than I've had in a long time. So far it's mainly been clothes, which I need. I could get away with jeans and a t-shirt at Marders, but not in a doctors' office. But yesterday I was looking for mugs in Pier 1 (When did their mugs get so god-awful ugly? They're all exactly the same - oversized and misshapen, just in different colors.) and I saw a tea set on sale for sixteen dollars. An adorable set with a black and white floral pattern. And I bought it. You know, if I'm going to pay sixteen dollars for a tea set that I'll most likely never use, I might as well buy the capuccino maker for sixty that will get used every day.

Labels: Shopping, Workin' for a livin'

I got on the internets the other day and purchased 10 half-ounce samples of tea. I think I may have overdone it, especially with the free sample they threw in the box. I got two black teas, two green, two herbal, and four flavored. And a free Masala chai. I did standard shipping and was so excited that I was going to have a plethora of tea at my door in 4 - 7 days, imagine the freakout I had when the box showed up a scant 22 hours after I placed my order. I'm a tea drinking fool.

Why is Ludacris on Regis and Kelly? What midwestern housewife wants to see that? Especially after Bill O'Reilly called for a boycott of Pepsi because Ludacris was a spokesperson. Am I mistaken about R&K's target audience? Maybe it just means that Lu has lost his edge.

Ladies, please. If you haven't been to a DSW, never set foot in one. It's like shoe heaven, just row after row after row of shoes. After a good half-hour frolic, I walked out of there with a pair of adorable Steve Madden sneakers and some Nine West sandals. I can easily see this place becoming a problem, because, like many other women, I have the it's-a-bargain-so-I-have-to-buy-it gene. You can't get Nine West shoes in a Nine West store for $39.99. Therefore, they must come home with me. Evil, I tell you. Evil

Labels: Shopping

No, really, I swear. Last night Tracy and I went to the Friendly's on 114 and got ice cream sundaes for ourselves and the three beef-jerky eating boys in Jeff's basement who were watching the Pats/Jaguars game and probably giving each other Dutch ovens while we were out. When we got back to Jeff's house they were all sitting on one couch, each with their own blanky. The ice cream was great, especially since I forgot to eat dinner. See what happens when your mother goes out of town? (Incidentally, there is a big strike going on with Verizon employees in New York and . . . other places - I wasn't paying that much attention during that conversation - and my mother is now working strike duty on Long Island for three weeks, not an hour away from my apartment. Of course, she asked to be placed there before she knew I'd be home for a long and indefinite amount of time. Some luck, huh?) After we were done we were all dealing with the dairy aftertaste and asked Tracy for some gum. She handed out what little she had along with some Ninja Turtle gum that was hiding somewhere. Jeff was very keen on the Leonardo piece for some reason. Dave asked for more gum, explaining that the Ninja Turtle tasted like candy, so he swallowed it. Well, there was no more gum to be had, so Tracy gave him two squirts of her Listerine breath spray. For reasons I can't remember, Dave did another five squirts and ended up drooling all over himself, his blanket, and the couch. From there it escalated into a contest to see who could do the most squirts, which ended with everyone in the room (except me - I ate a honey roasted cricket once, isn't that enough for you people?) taking a squirt up the nose. I have no idea what Jeff's parents were thinking, what with all the cries of "Do it!" and "You have to inhale," and "My nose is burning, but it's cold, too," rising up out of the basement and into the living room. After the Listerine madness subsided there was a lot of talk about the chemical properties of mouthwash and how it's perfectly fine to force it into your nasal cavity, right? Because your throat and your mouth and your nose are all connected, so it's really just like putting it in your mouth. Of course.

Is anyone familiar with Victoria's Secret underwear? (or panties, as Nicole Bonenberger would hate to read. Remember her issues with that word?) Do they go up higher in the back specifically so they'll peek out the top of your pants, or is it just me? I got medium bikinis, but there just seems to be a little too much material and I refuse to believe that Vicki's thinks my ass is actually a small. They must fiddle with their sizes to make people feel better about themselves, like that time I tried on pants at The Limited in the Montgomery Mall and found that even the 4 was a little loose. That is some rather impressive size adjustment, believe you me. I was a medium at La Senza and those fit fine. God, I wish I knew they were going out of business. I would have sent Tracy some cash and had her stockpile for me.

Labels: Out and About With Tracy, Shopping

I've got Little Plastic Castles on the brain. Really only the horn section, although it's hard to write out bop-bop-bop-bop baaah bop! as a title and have anyone know what the hell you're talking about.

It's been an all tea porn morning. I've got my eye on about two dozen different green, black, fruit, and blended teas, which isn't as bad as you might think because both Special Teas and Adagio teas sell 1/2 oz samples for one and two dollars, respectively. Although Adagio's come in cute little silver tins, which is so worth the extra buck. And I have a huge crush on this teapot. I wouldn't kick this one out of bed, either. My next apartment is going to be all teapots and storage tins and infusors. And lots of rock sugar. This is probably the one thing in my life that could turn into a real, cat-lady-who-lives-at-the-end-of-the-street-in-the-house-with-the-three-foot-high-lawn kind of obsession. I really like things that are elegant and functional. Which doesn't explain at all why I like egg cups so much. I mean, who the hell uses an egg cup anymore?

Work is slowing down. I do two, maybe three purchase orders a day. My work consists mainly of doing writeouts now that retail is doing inventory on everything. And I'm hounding a vendor about a rose order we put in. He won't return my call or fax me an order confirmation. Bastard.

Labels: Shopping